University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


•2-3 


MASTERPIECES    OF 
NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 


MASTERPIECES  OF 
NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 


THE  BEST  SPEECHES  DELIVERED  BY 
THE  NEGRO  FROM  THE  DAYS  OF 
SLAVERY  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME 


EDITED  BY 

ALICE  MOORE  DUNBAR 


THE  BOOKERY  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1914, 

by 
ROBERT  JOHN  NELSON 


TO  THE  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE, 
THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED,  WITH  THE  HOPE 
THAT  IT  MAY  HELP  INSPIRE  THEM  WITH 
A  BELIEF  IN  THEIR  OWN  POSSIBILITIES 


PREFACE 

We  have  not  always  appreciated  our  own  work  suffi 
ciently  to  preserve  it,  and  thus  much  valuable  material  is 
wasted.  Sometimes  it  has  been  difficult  to  obtain  good 
speeches  from  those  who  are  living  because  of  their  innate 
modesty,  either  in  not  desiring  to  appear  in  print,  or  in 
having  thought  so  little  of  their  efforts  as  to  have  lost 
them. 

The  Editor  is  conscious  that  many  names  not  in  the 
table  of  contents  will  suggest  themselves  to  the  most 
casual  reader,  but  the  omissions  are  not  intentional  nor 
yet  of  ignorance  always,  but  due  to  the  difficulty  of  pro 
curing  the  matter  in  time  for  the  publication  of  the  vol 
ume  be  ore  the  golden  year  shall  have  closed. 

In  collecting  and  arranging  the  matter,  for  the  volume, 
I  am  deeply  indebted  first  to  the  living  contributors  who 
were  so  gracious  and  generous  in  their  responses  to  the 
request  for  their  help,  and  to  the  relatives  of  those  who 
have  passed  into  silence,  for  the  loan  of  valuable  books 
and  manuscripts.  I  cannot  adequately  express  my  grat 
itude  to  Mr.  John  E.  Bruce  and  Mr.  Arthur  A.  Schom- 
burg,  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Negro  Society  for 
Historical  Reseach,  for  advice,  suggestion,  and  best  of 
all,  for  help  in  lending  priceless  books  and  manuscripts 
and  for  aid  in  copying  therefrom. 

Again,  we  repeat,  this  volume  is  not  a  complete  an 
thology;  not  the  final  word  in  Negro  eloquence  of  to-day, 
nor  yet  a  collection  of  all  the  best;  it  is  merely  a  sugges 
tion,  a  guide-post,  pointing  the  way  to  a  fuller  work,  a 
slight  memorial  of  the  birth-year  of  the  race. 

THE  EDITOR. 
October,  1913. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PRINCE  SAUNDERS 

The  People  of  Hayti  and  a  Plan  of  Emigration 13 

JAMES  McCuNE  SMITH 

Touissaint  L'Ouverture  and  the  Haytian  Revolution. ...     19 

HILARY  TEAGUE 

Liberia:  Its  Struggles  and  Its  Promises 33 

FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

What  to  the  Slave  is  the  Fourth  of  July 41 

On  the  Unveiling  of  the  Lincoln  Monument 133 

CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

Should  Colored  Men  be  Subject  to  the  Pains  and  Penal 
ties  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law? 49 

RICHARD  T.  GREENER 

Young  Men  to  the  Front 63 

ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

The  Civil  Rights  Bill 67 

JOHN  R.  LYNCH 

Civil  Rights  and  Social  Equality 89 

ALEXANDER  DUMAS,  FILS 

On  the  Occasion  of  Taking  His  Seat  in  the  French 
Academy 95 

JOHN  M.  LANGSTON 

Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Abolition 
Society 97 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

The  Two  Seals 379 

J.  MILTON  WALDRON 

A  Solution  of  the  Race  Problem 389 

J.  FRANCIS  GREGORY 

The  Social  Bearings  of  the  Fifth  Commandment 397 

WILLIAM  C.  JASON 

Life's  Mora 403 

WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

Abraham  Lincoln 4°9 

ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

David  Livingstone 425 

KELLY  MILLER 

Education  for  Manhood 445 

ROBERT  T.  JONES 

On  Making  a  Life 455 

ERNEST  LYON 

Emancipation  and  Racial  Advancement 461 

JOHN  C.  DANCY 

The  Future  of  the  Negro  Church 475 

W.  ASHBIE  HAWKINS 

The  Negro  Lawyer 483 

W.  E.  B.  DUBOIS 

The  Training  of  Negroes  for  Social  Reform 491 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  HAYTI  AND  A  PLAN  OF 
EMIGRATION* 

BY  PRINCE  SAUNDERS 

Respected  Gentlemen  and  Friends: 

At  a  period  so  momentous  as  the  present,  when  the 
friends  of  abolition  and  emancipation,  as  well  as  those 
whom  observation  and  experience  might  teach  us  to 
beware  to  whom  we  should  apply  the  endearing  appel 
lations,  are  professedly  concerned  for  the  establishment 
of  an  Asylum  for  those  Free  Persons  of  Color,  who  may 
be  disposed  to  remove  to  it,  and  for  such  persons  as  shall 
hereafter  be  emancipated  from  slavery,  a  careful  examina 
tion  of  this  subject  is  imposed  upon  us. 

So  large  a  number  of  abolitionists,  convened  from 
different  sections  of  the  country,  is  at  all  times  and  under 
any  circumstances,  an  interesting  spectacle  to  the  eye  of 
the  philanthropist,  how  doubly  delightful  then  is  it,  to  me, 
whose  interests  and  feelings  so  largely  partake  in  the 
object  you  have  in  view,  to  behold  this  convention 
engaged  in  solemn  deliberation  upon  those  subjects 


*  Extracts  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  American  Convention  for 
Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  and  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
African  Race,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  December  n,  1818. 

13 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

employed  to  promote  the  improvement  of  the  condition 
of  the  African  race. 


Assembled  as  this  convention  is,  for  the  promotion 
and  extension  of  its  beneficent  and  humane  views  and 
principles,  I  would  respectfully  beg  leave  to  lay  before  it  a 
few  remarks  upon  the  character,  condition,  and  wants  of 
the  afflicted  and  divided  people  of  Hayti,  as  they,  and 
that  island,  may  be  connected  with  plans  for  the  emigra 
tion  of  the  free  people  of  color  of  the  United  States. 

God  in  the  mysterious  operation  of  his  providence  has 
seen  fit  to  permit  the  most  astonishing  changes  to  tran 
spire  upon  that  naturally  beautiful  and  (as  to  soil  and 
productions)  astonishingly  luxuriant  island. 

The  abominable  principles,  both  of  action  and  belief, 
which  pervaded  France  during  the  long  series  of  vicis 
situdes  which  until  recently  she  has  experienced,  extended 
to  Hayti,  or  Santo  Domingo  have  undoubtedly  had 
an  extensive  influence  upon  the  character,  sentiments, 
and  feelings  of  all  descriptions  of  its  present  inhabitants. 

This  magnificent  and  extensive  island  which  has  by 
travellers  and  historians  been  often  denominated  the 
"paradise  of  the  New  World,"  seems  from  its  situation, 
extent,  climate,  and  fertility  peculiarly  suited  to  become 
an  object  of  interest  and  attention  to  the  many  distin 
guished  and  enlightened  philanthropists  whom  God  has 
been  graciously  pleased  to  inspire  with  a  zeal  for  the 
promotion  of  the  best  interests  of  the  descendants  -of 
Africa.  The  recent  proceedings  in  several  of  the  slave 
States  toward  the  free  population  of  color  in  those  States 

14 


PRINCE  SAUNDERS 

seem  to  render  it  highly  probable  that  that  oppressed 
class  of  the  community  will  soon  be  obliged  to  flee  to  the 
free  States  for  protection.  If  the  two  rival  Governments 
of  Hayti  were  consolidated  into  one  well-balanced  pacific 
power,  there  are  many  hundred  of  the  free  people  in  the 
New  England  and  Middle  States  who  would  be  glad  to 
repair  there  immediately  to  settle,  and  believing  that  the 
period  has  arrived,  when  many  zealous  friends  to  aboli 
tion  and  emancipation  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  time  for 
them  to  act  in  relation  to  an  asylum  for  such  persons  as 
shall  be  emancipated  from  slavery,  or  for  such  portion  of 
the  free  colored  population  at  present  existing  in  the 
United  States,  as  shall  feel  disposed  to  emigrate,  and 
being  aware  that  the  authorities  of  Hayti  are  themselves 
desirous  of  receiving  emigrants  from  this  country,  are 
among  the  considerations  which  have  induced  me  to  lay 
this  subject  before  the  convention. 

The  present  spirit  of  rivalry  which  exists  between  the 
two  chiefs  in  the  French  part  of  the  island,  and  the 
consequent  belligerent  aspect  and  character  of  the  coun 
try,  may  at  first  sight  appear  somewhat  discouraging  to 
the  beneficent  views  and  labors  of  the  friends  of  peace; 
but  these  I  am  inclined  to  think  are  by  no  means  to  be 
considered  as  insurmountable  barriers  against  the  benev 
olent  exertions  of  those  Christian  philanthropists  whose 
sincere  and  hearty  desire  it  is  to  reunite  and  pacify  them. 

There  seems  to  be  no  probability  of  their  ever  being 
reconciled  to  each  other  without  the  philanthropic  inter 
position  and  mediation  of  those  who  have  the  welfare  of 
the  African  race  at  heart.  And  where,  in  the  whole  circle 

15 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  practical  Christian  philanthropy  and  active  benefi 
cence,  is  there  so  ample  a  field  for  the  exertion  of  those 
heaven-born  virtues  as  in  that  hitherto  distracted  region? 
In  those  unhappy  divisions  which  exist  in  Hayti  is  strik 
ingly  exemplified  the  saying  which  is  written  in  the  sacred 
oracles,  "that  when  men  forsake  the  true  worship  and 
service  of  the  only  true  God,  and  bow  down  to  images  of 
silver,  and  gold,  and  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping 
things,  and  become  contentious  with  each  other,"  says 
the  inspired  writer,  "in  such  a  state  of  things  trust  ye  not 
a  friend,  put  ye  not  confidence  in  a  guide;  keep  the  doors 
of  thy  mouth  from  her  that  lieth  hi  thy  bosom;  for  there 
the  son  dishonoreth  the  father,  and  the  daughter  riseth 
up  against  her  mother,  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 
mother-in-law,  and  a  man's  enemies  shall  be  those  of  his 
own  house. " 

Had  the  venerable  prophet  in  the  foregoing  predic 
tions  alluded  expressly  and  entirely  to  the  actual  moral, 
political,  and  above  all,  to  the  religious  character  and 
condition  of  the  Haytians,  he  could  scarcely  have  given  a 
more  correct  description  of  it. 

For  there  is  scarcely  a  family  whose  members  are  not 
separated  from  each  other,  and  arrayed  under  the  banners 
of  the  rival  chiefs,  in  virtual  hostility  against  each  other. 
In  many  instances  the  husband  is  with  Henry,  and  the 
wife  and  children  with  Boyer,  and  there  are  other  in 
stances  in  which  the  heads  of  the  family  are  with  Boyer, 
and  the  other  members  with  Henry. 

Let  it  be  distinctly  remembered,  that  these  divided 
and  distressed  individuals  are  not  permitted  to  hold  any 

16 


PRINCE  SAUNDERS 

intercourse  with  each  other;  so  that  it  is  only  when  some 
very  extraordinary  occurrence  transpires,  that  persons  in 
the  different  sections  of  the  country  receive  any  kind  of 
information  from  their  nearest  relatives  and  friends. 

"Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,"  is  the  language  of 
that  celestial  law-giver,  who  taught  as  never  man  taught; 
and  his  religion  uniformly  assures  the  obedient  recipients 
of  his  spirit,  that  they  shall  be  rewarded  according  to  the 
extent,  fidelity,  and  sincerity  of  their  works  of  piety  and 
beneficence. 

And  if,  according  to  the  magnitude  of  the  object  in  all 
its  political,  benevolent,  humane,  and  Christian  relations, 
the  quantum  of  recompense  is  to  be  awarded  and  apprised 
to  the  just,  to  how  large  a  share  of  the  benediction  of  our 
blessed  Savior  to  the  promoters  of  peace  shall  those  be 
authorized  to  expect  who  may  be  made  the  instruments 
of  the  pacification  and  reunion  of  the  Haytian  people? 
Surely  the  blessings  of  thousands  who  are,  as  it  were, 
ready  to  perish,  must  inevitably  come  upon  them. 

When  I  reflect  that  it  was  in  this  city  that  the  first 
abolition  society  that  was  formed  in  the  world  was  estab 
lished,  I  am  strongly  encouraged  to  hope,  that  here  also 
there  may  originate  a  plan,  which  shall  be  the  means  of 
restoring  many  of  our  fellow  beings  to  the  embraces  of 
their  families  and  friends,  and  place  that  whole  country 
upon  the  basis  of  unanimity  and  perpetual  peace. 

If  the  American  Convention  should  in  their  wisdom 
think  it  expedient  to  adopt  measures  for  attempting  to 
affect  a  pacification  of  the  Haytians,  it  is  most  heartily 
believed,  that  their  benevolent  views  would  be  hailed  and 

17 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

concurred  in  with  alacrity  and  delight  by  the  English 
philanthropists. 

It  is  moreover  believed  that  a  concern  so  stupendous 
in  its  relations,  and  bearing  upon  the  cause  of  universal 
abolition  and  emancipation,  and  to  the  consequent 
improvement  and  elevation  of  the  African  race,  would 
tend  to  awaken  an  active  and  a  universally  deep  and 
active  interest  in  the  minds  of  that  numerous  host  of 
abolitionists  in  Great  Britain,  whom  we  trust  have  the 
best  interests  of  the  descendants  of  Africa  deeply  at  heart. 


TOUSSAINT  L'OUVERTURE  AND  THE  HAYTIAN 
REVOLUTIONS* 

BY  JAMES  McCuNE  SMITH,  M.  A.,  M.  D 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Whilst  the  orgies  of  the  French  revolution  thrust 
forward  a  being  whose  path  was  by  rivers  of  blood,  the 
horrors  of  Santo  Domingo  produced  one  who  was  pre 
eminently  a  peacemaker— TOUSSAINT  L'OUVERTURE. 

In  estimating  the  character  of  Toussaint  L'Ouverture, 
regard  must  be  paid,  not  to  the  enlightened  age  in  which 
he  lived,  but  to  the  rank  in  society  from  which  he  sprang — 
a  rank  which  must  be  classed  with  a  remote  and  elemen 
tary  age  of  mankind. 

Born  forty-seven  years  before  the  commencement  of 
the  revolt,  he  had  reached  the  prime  of  manhood,  a  slave, 
with  a  soul  uncontaminated  by  the  degradation  which 
surrounded  him.  Living  in  a  state  of  society  where  worse 
than  polygamy  was  actually  urged,  we  find  him  at  this 
period  faithful  to  one  wife — the  wife  of  his  youth — and 
the  father  of  an  interesting  family.  Linked  with  such 
tender  ties,  and  enlightened  with  some  degree  of  educa 
tion,  which  his  indulgent  master,  M.  Bayou,  had  given 

*  Extracts  from  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  Stuyvesant  Institute,  New 
York,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum,  February  26,  1841. 

19 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

him,  he  fulfilled,  up  to  the  moment  of  the  revolt,  the 
duties  of  a  Christian  man  in  slavery. 

At  the  time  of  the  insurrection — in  which  he  took  no 
part — he  continued  in  the  peaceable  discharge  of  his 
duties  as  coachman;  and  when  the  insurgents  approached 
the  estate  whereon  he  lived,  he  accomplished  the  flight 
of  M.  Bayou,  whose  kind  treatment  (part  of  this  kindness 
was  teaching  this  slave  to  read  and  write)  he  repaid  by 
forwarding  to  him  produce  for  his  maintenance  while  in 
exile  in  these  United  States. 

Having  thus  faithfully  acquitted  himself  as  a  slave, 
he  turned  towards  the  higher  destinies  which  awaited  him 
as  a  freeman.  With  a  mind  stored  with  patient  reflection 
upon  the  biographies  of  men,  the  most  eminent  in  civil 
and  military  affairs;  and  deeply  versed  in  the  history  of 
the  most  remarkable  revolutions  that  had  yet  occurred 
amongst  mankind,  he  entered  the  army  of  the  insurgents 
under  Jean  Frangois.  This  chief  rapidly  promoted  him 
to  the  offices  of  physician  to  the  forces,  aid-de-camp,  and 
colonel.  Jean  Frangois,  in  alliance  with  the  Spaniards, 
maintained  war  at  this  time  for  the  cause  of  royalty. 

Whilst  serving  under  this  chief,  Toussaint  beheld 
another  civil  war  agitating  the  French  colony.  On  one 
side,  the  French  Commissioners,  who  had  acknowledged 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  maintained  war  for  the 
Republic;  on  the  other  side,  the  old  noblesse,  or  planters, 
fought  under  the  royal  banner,  having  called  in  the  aid  of 
the  British  forces  in  order  to  re-establish  slavery  and  the 
ancient  regime. 

In  this  conflict,  unmindful  of  their  solemn  oaths 

20 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

against  the  decree  of  the  i5th  of  May,  1791,  the  whites  of 
both  parties,  including  the  planters,  hesitated  not  to  fight 
in  the  same  ranks,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  with  the  blacks. 
Caste  was  forgotten  in  the  struggle  for  principles! 

At  this  juncture  Jean  Frangois,  accompanied  by  his 
principal  officers,  and  possessed  of  all  the  honors  and 
emoluments  of  a  captain-general  in  the  service  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty,  retired  to  Spain,  leaving  Toussaint  at 
liberty  to  choose  his  party.  Almost  immediately  joining 
that  standard  which  acknowledged  and  battled  for  equal 
rights  to  all  men,  he  soon  rendered  signal  service  to  the 
Commissioners,  by  driving  the  Spaniards  from  the 
northern,  and  by  holding  the  British  at  bay  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  island.  For  these  services  he  was  raised  to  the 
rank  of  general  by  the  French  commander  at  Porte  aux 
Paix,  General  Laveaux,  a  promotion  which  he  soon  repaid 
by  saving  that  veteran's  life  under  the  following  circum 
stances  :  Villate,  a  mulatto  general,  envious  of  the  honors 
bestowed  on  Toussaint,  treacherously  imprisoned  General 
Laveaux  in  Cape  Frangois.  Immediately  upon  hearing 
this  fact,  Toussaint  hastened  to  the  Cape  at  the  head  of 
10,000  men  and  liberated  his  benefactor.  And,  at  the 
very  moment  of  his  liberation,  a  commission  arrived  from 
France  appointing  General  Laveaux  Governor  of  the 
Colony;  his  first  official  act  was  to  proclaim  Toussaint  his 
lieutenant.  "This  is  the  black,"  said  Laveaux,  "pre 
dicted  by  Raynal,  and  who  is  destined  to  avenge  the 
outrages  committed  against  his  whole  race. "  A  remark 
soon  verified,  for  on  his  attainment  of  the  supreme  power, 
Toussaint  avenged  those  injuries — by  forgiveness! 

21 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

As  an  acknowledgment  for  his  eminent  services  against 
the  British,  and  against  the  mulattoes,  who,  inflamed 
with  all  the  bitterness  of  caste,  had  maintained  a  sanguin 
ary  war  under  their  great  leader  Rigaud,  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  colony,  the  Commissioners  invested  Toussaint 
with  the  office  and  dignity  of  general-in-chief  of  Santo 
Domingo. 

From  that  moment  began  the  full  development  of  the 
vast  and  versatile  genius  of  this  extraordinary  man. 
Standing  amid  the  terrible,  because  hostile,  fragments  of 
two  revolutions,  harassed  by  the  rapacious  greed  of  com 
missioners  upon  commissioners,  who,  successively  dis 
patched  from  France,  hid  beneath  a  republican  exterior  a 
longing  after  the  spoils;  with  an  army  in  the  field  accus 
tomed  by  five  years'  experience  to  all  the  license  of  civil 
war,  Toussaint,  with  a  giant  hand,  seized  the  reins  of 
government,  reduced  these  conflicting  elements  to  har 
mony  and  order,  and  raised  the  colony  to  nearly  its 
former  prosperity,  his  lofty  intellect  always  delighting  to 
effect  its  object  rather  by  the  tangled  mazes  of  diplomacy 
than  by  the  strong  arm  of  physical  force,  yet  maintaining 
a  steadfast  and  unimpeached  adherence  to  truth,  his  word, 
and  his  honor. 

General  Maitland,  commander  of  the  British  forces, 
finding  the  reduction  of  the  island  to  be  utterly  hopeless, 
signed  a  treaty  with  Toussaint  for  the  evacuation  of  all 
the  posts  which  he  held.  "Toussaint  then  paid  him  a 
visit,  and  was  received  with  military  honors.  After 
partaking  of  a  grand  entertainment,  he  was  presented  by 
General  Maitland,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  with  a 

22 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

splendid  service  of  plate,  and  put  in  possession  of  the 
government-house  which  had  been  built  and  furnished  by 

the  English." 

*    *    *    *    * 

Buonaparte,  on  becoming  First  Consul,  sent  out  the 
confirmation  of  Toussaint  as  commander-in-chief,  who, 
with  views  infinitely  beyond  the  short-sighted  and  selfish 
vision  of  the  Commissioners,  proclaimed  a  general  am 
nesty  to  the  planters  who  had  fled  during  the  revolutions, 
earnestly  invited  their  return  to  the  possession  of  their 
estates,  and,  with  a  delicate  regard  to  their  feelings, 
decreed  that  the  epithet  "emigrant"  should  not  be  applied 
to  them.  Many  of  the  planters  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  returned  to  the  peaceful  possession  of  their  estates. 

In  regard  to  the  army  of  Toussaint,  General  Lacroix, 
one  of  the  planters  who  returned,  affirms  "that  never  was 
a  European  army  subjected  to  a  more  rigid  discipline 
than  that  which  was  observed  by  the  troops  of  Tous 
saint.  "  Yet  this  army  was  converted  by  the  commander- 
in-chief  into  industrious  laborers,  by  the  simple  expedient 
of  paying  them  for  their  labor.  "When  he  restored  many 
of  the  planters  to  their  estates,  there  was  no  restoration 
of  their  former  property  in  human  beings.  No  human 
being  was  to  be  bought  or  sold.  Severe  tasks,  flagella 
tions,  and  scanty  food  were  no  longer  to  be  endured. 
The  planters  were  obliged  to  employ  their  laborers  on 
the  footing  of  hired  servants. "  "  And  under  this  system, " 
says  Lacroix,  "the  colony  advanced,  as  if  by  enchantment 
towards  its  ancient  splendor;  cultivation  was  extended 
with  such  rapidity  that  every  day  made  its  progress  more 

23 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

perceptible.  All  appeared  to  be  happy,  and  regarded 
Toussaint  as  their  guardian  angel.  In  making  a  tour  of 
the  island,  he  was  hailed  by  the  blacks  with  universal 
joy,  nor  was  he  less  a  favorite  of  the  whites." 

Toussaint,  having  effected  a  bloodless  conquest  of  the 
Spanish  territory,  had  now  become  commander  of  the 
entire  island.  Performing  all  the  executive  duties,  he 
made  laws  to  suit  the  exigency  of  the  times.  His  Egeria 
was  temperance  accompanied  with  a  constant  activity  of 
body  and  mind. 

The  best  proof  of  the  entire  success  of  his  government 
is  contained  in  the  comparative  views  of  the  exports  of 
the  island,  before  the  revolutions,  and  during  the  admin 
istration  of  Toussaint.  Bear  in  mind  that,  "before 
the  revolution  there  were  450,000  slave  laborers  working 
with  a  capital  in  the  shape  of  buildings,  mills,  fixtures, 
and  implements,  which  had  been  accumulating  during  a 
century.  Under  Toussaint  there  were  290,000  free 
laborers,  many  of  them  just  from  the  army  or  the  moun 
tains,  working  on  plantations  that  had  undergone  the 
devastation  of  insurrection  and  a  seven  years'  war. " 
*  *  *  *  * 

In  consequence  of  the  almost  entire  cessation  of 
official  communication  with  France,  and  for  other  reasons 
equally  good,  Toussaint  thought  it  necessary  for  the 
public  welfare  to  frame  a  new  constitution  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  island.  With  the  aid  of  M.  Pascal,  Abbe 
Moliere,  and  Marinit,  he  drew  up  a  constitution,  and 
submitted  the  same  to  a  General  Assembly  convened  from 
every  district,  and  by  that  assembly  the  constitution  was 

24 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

adopted.  It  was  subsequently  promulgated  in  the  name 
of  the  people.  And,  on  the  ist  of  July,  1801,  the  island 
was  declared  to  be  an  independent  State,  in  which  all  men, 
without  regard  to  complexion  or  creed,  possessed  equal 
rights. 

This  proceeding  was  subsequently  sanctioned  by 
Napoleon  Buonaparte,  whilst  First  Consul.  In  a  letter  to 
Toussaint,  he  says,  "We  have  conceived  for  you  esteem, 
and  we  wish  to  recognize  and  proclaim  the  great  services 
you  have  rendered  the  French  people.  If  their  colors  fly 
on  Santo  Domingo,  it  is  to  you  and  your  brave  blacks 
that  we  owe  it.  Called  by  your  talents  and  the  force  of 
circumstances  to  the  chief  command,  you  have  terminated 
the  civil  war,  put  a  stop  to  the  persecutions  of  some 
ferocious  men,  and  restored  to  honor  the  religion  and  the 
worship  of  God,  from  whom  all  things  come.  The  situa 
tion  in  which  you  were  placed,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
enemies,  and  without  the  mother  country  being  able  to 
succor  or  sustain  you,  has  rendered  legitimate  the  articles 
of  that  constitution." 

Although  Toussaint  enforced  the  duties  of  religion,  he 
entirely  severed  the  connection  between  Church  and 
State.  He  rigidly  enforced  all  the  duties  of  morality,  and 
would  not  suffer  in  his  presence  even  the  approach  to 
indecency  of  dress  or  manner.  "Modesty,"  said  he,  "is 
the  defense  of  woman." 

The  chief,  nay  the  idol  of  an  army  of  100,000  well- 
trained  and  acclimated  troops  ready  to  march  or  sail 
where  he  wist,  Toussaint  refrained  from  raising  the  stand 
ard  of  liberty  in  any  one  of  the  neighboring  island,  at  a 

25 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

time  when,  had  he  been  fired  with  what  men  term  ambi 
tion,  he  could  easily  have  revolutionized  the  entire 
archipelago  of  the  west.  But  his  thoughts  were  bent  on 
conquest  of  another  kind;  he  was  determined  to  over 
throw  an  error  which  designing  and  interested  men  had 
craftily  instilled  into  the  civilized  world, — a  belief  in  the 
natural  inferiority  of  the  Negro  race.  It  was  the  glory 
and  the  warrantable  boast  of  Toussaint  that  he  had  been 
the  instrument  of  demonstrating  that,  even  with  the 
worst  odds  against  them,  this  race  is  entirely  capable  of 
achieving  liberty  and  of  self-government.  He  did  more: 
by  abolishing  caste  he  proved  the  artificial  nature  of  such 
distinctions,  and  further  demonstrated  that  even  slavery 
cannot  unfit  men  for  the  full  exercise  of  all  the  functions 
which  belong  to  free  citizens. 

"Some  situations  of  trust  were  filled  by  free  Negroes 
and  mulattoes,  who  had  been  in  respectable  circum 
stances  under  the  old  Government;  but  others  were 
occupied  by  Negroes,  and  even  by  Africans,  who  had 
recently  emerged  from  the  lowest  condition  of  slavery." 

But  the  bright  and  happy  state  of  things  which  the 
genius  of  Toussaint  had  almost  created  out  of  elements 
the  most  discordant  was  doomed  to  be  of  short  duration. 
For  the  dark  spirit  of  Napoleon,  glutted,  but  not  satiated 
with  the  glory  banquet  afforded  at  the  expense  of  Europe 
and  Africa,  seized  upon  this,  the  most  beautiful  and  happy 
of  the  Hesperides,  as  the  next  victim  of  its  remorseless 
rapacity. 

With  the  double  intention  of  getting  rid  of  the  repub 
lican  army,  and  reducing  back  to  slavery  the  island  of 

26 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

Hayti,  he  sent  out  his  brother-in-law,  General  Leclerc, 
with  26  ships  of  war  and  25,000  men. 

Like  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae,  or  the  Bruce  at  Ban- 
nockburn,  Toussaint  determined  to  defend  from  thraldom 
his  sea-girt  isle,  made  sacred  to  liberty  by  the  baptism  of 
blood. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1802,  Leclerc  arrived  off  the 
bay  of  Samana,  from  the  promontory  of  which  Toussaint, 
in  anxious  alarm,  beheld  for  the  first  tune  in  his  life  so 
large  an  armament.  "We  must  all  perish,"  said  he,  "all 
France  has  come  to  Santo  Domingo!"  But  this  despond 
ency  passed  away  in  a  moment,  and  then  this  man,  who 
had  been  a  kindly-treated  slave,  prepared  to  oppose  to  the 
last  that  system  which  he  now  considered  worse  than 
death. 

It  is  impossible,  after  so  long  a  tax  on  your  patience, 
to  enter  on  a  detailed  narration  of  the  conflict  which 
ensued.  The  hour  of  trial  served  only  to  develop  and 
ennoble  the  character  of  Toussaint,  who  rose,  with  mis 
fortune,  above  the  allurements  of  rank  and  wealth  which 
were  offered  as  the  price  of  his  submission;  and  the  very 
ties  of  parental  love  he  yielded  to  the  loftier  sentiment  of 
patriotism. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  a  division  of  Leclerc's  army, 
commanded  by  General  Rochambeau,  an  old  planter, 
landed  at  Fort  Dauphin,  and  ruthlessly  murdered  many 
of  the  inhabitants  (freedmen)  who,  unarmed,  had  been 
led  by  curiosity  to  the  beach,  in  order  to  witness  the 
disembarkation  of  the  troops. 

27 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Christophe,  one  of  the  generals  of  Toussaint,  com 
manding  at  Cape  Frangois,  having  resisted  the  menaces 
and  the  flattery  of  Leclerc,  reduced  that  ill-fated  town  to 
ashes,  and  retired  with  his  troops  into  the  mountains, 
carrying  with  him  2,000  of  the  white  inhabitants  of  the 
Cape,  who  were  protected  from  injury  during  the  fierce 
war  which  ensued. 

Having  full  possession  of  the  plain  of  the  Cape, 
Leclerc,  with  a  proclamation  of  liberty  in  his  hand,  in 
March  following  re-established  slavery  with  all  its  former 
cruelties. 

This  treacherous  movement  thickened  the  ranks  of 
Toussaint,  who  thenceforward  so  vigorously  pressed  his 
opponent,  that  as  a  last  resort,  Leclerc  broke  the  shackles 
of  the  slave,  and  proclaimed  "Liberty  and  equality  to  all 
the  inhabitants  of  Santo  Domingo. " 

This  proclamation  terminated  the  conflict  for  the 
time.  Christophe  and  Dessalines,  general  officers,  and  at 
length  Toussaint  himself,  capitulated,  and,  giving  up  the 
command  of  the  island  to  Leclerc,  he  retired,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  that  officer,  to  enjoy  rest  and  the  sweet  endear 
ments  of  his  family  circle,  on  one  of  his  estates  near 
Gonaives.  At  this  place  he  had  remained  about  one 
month,  when,  without  any  adequate  cause,  Leclerc 
caused  him  to  be  seized,  and  to  be  placed  on  board  of  a 
ship  of  war,  in  which  he  was  conveyed  to  France,  where, 
without  trial  or  condemnation,  he  was  imprisoned  in  a 
loathsome  and  unhealthy  dungeon.  Unaccustomed  to 
the  chill  and  damp  of  this  prison-house,  the  aged  frame 
of  Toussaint  gave  way,  and  he  died. 

28 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

In  this  meagre  outline  of  his  life  I  have  presented 
simply  facts,  gleaned,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  unwill 
ing  testimony  of  his  foes,  and  therefore  resting  on  good 
authority.  The  highest  encomium  on  his  character  is 
contained  in  the  fact  that  Napoleon  believed  that  by 
capturing  him  he  would  be  able  to  re-enslave  Hayti;  and 
even  this  encomium  is,  if  possible,  rendered  higher  by  the 
circumstances  which  afterward  transpired,  which  showed 
that  his  principles  were  so  thoroughly  disseminated  among 
his  brethren,  that,  without  the  presence  of  Toussaint, 
they  achieved  that  liberty  which  he  had  taught  them  so 
rightly  to  estimate. 

The  capture  of  Toussaint  spread  like  wild-fire  through 
the  island,  and  his  principal  officers  again  took  the  field. 
A  fierce  and  sanguinary  war  ensued,  in  which  the  French 
gratuitously  inflicted  the  most  awful  cruelties  on  their 
prisoners,  many  of  whom  having  been  hunted  with  blood 
hounds,  were  carried  in  ships  to  some  distance  from  the 
shore,  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and  cast  into  the  sea; 
their  corposes  were  thrown  by  the  waves  back  upon  the 
beach,  and  filled  the  air  with  pestilence,  by  which  the 
French  troops  perished  in  large  numbers.  Leclerc  having 
perished  by  pestilence,  his  successor,  Rochambeau,  when 
the  conquest  of  the  island  was  beyond  possibility,  became 
the  cruel  perpetrator  of  these  bloody  deeds. 

Thus  it  will  be  perceived  that  treachery  and  massacre 
were  begun  on  the  side  of  the  French.  I  place  emphasis 
on  these  facts  in  order  to  endeavor  to  disabuse  the  public 
mind  of  an  attempt  to  attribute  to  emancipation  the  acts 
of  retaliation  resorted  to  by  the  Haytians  hi  imitation  of 

29 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

what  the  enlightened  French  had  taught  them.  In  two 
daily  papers  of  this  city  there  were  published,  a  year 
since,  a  series  of  articles  entitled  the  "Massacres  of 
Santo  Domingo. " 

The  "massacres"  are  not  attributable  to  emancipa 
tion,  for  we  have  proved  otherwise  in  regard  to  the  first 
of  them.  The  other  occurred  in  1804,  twelve  years  after 
the  slaves  had  disenthralled  themselves.  Fearful  as  the 
latter  may  have  been,  it  did  not  equal  the  atrocities 
previously  committed  on  the  Haytians  by  the  French. 
And  the  massacre  was  restricted  to  the  white  French 
inhabitants,  whom  Dessalines,  the  Robespierre  of  the 
island,  suspected  of  an  attempt  to  bring  back  slavery, 
with  the  aid  of  a  French  force  yet  hovering  in  the  neigh 
borhood. 

And  if  we  search  for  the  cause  of  this  massacre,  we  may 
trace  it  to  the  following  source:  Nations  which  are 
pleased  to  term  themselves  civilized  have  one  sort  of 
faith  which  they  hold  to  one  another,  and  another  sort 
which  they  entertain  towards  people  less  advanced  in 
refinement.  The  faith  which  they  entertain  towards  the 
latter  is,  very  often,  treachery,  in  the  vocabulary  of  the 
civilized.  It  was  treachery  towards  Toussaint  that 
caused  the  massacre  of  Santo  Domingo;  it  was  treachery 
towards  Osceola  that  brought  bloodhounds  into  Florida! 

General  Rochambeau,  with  the  remnant  of  the  French 
army,  having  been  reduced  to  the  dread  necessity  of 
striving  "to  appease  the  calls  of  hunger  by  feeding  on 
horses,  mules,  and  the  very  dogs  that  had  been  employed 

30 


JAMES  McCUNE  SMITH 

in  hunting  down  and  devouring  the  Negroes,"  evacuated 
the  island  in  the  autumn  of  1803,  and  Hayti  thencefor 
ward  became  an  independent  State. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  have  now  laid  before  you  a 
concise  view  of  the  revolutions  of  Hayti  in  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect;  and  I  trust  you  will  now  think,  that,  so 
far  from  being  scenes  of  indiscriminate  massacre  from 
which  we  should  turn  our  eyes  in  horror,  these  revolutions 
constitute  an  epoch  worthy  of  the  anxious  study  of  every 
American  citizen. 

Among  the  many  lessons  that  may  be  drawn  from 
this  portion  of  history  is  one  not  unconnected  with  the 
present  occasion.  From  causes  to  which  I  need  not  give  a 
name,  there  is  gradually  creeping  into  our  otherwise 
prosperous  state  the  incongruous  and  undermining 
influence  of  caste.  One  of  the  local  manifestations  of 
this  unrepublican  sentiment  is,  that  while  800  children, 
chiefly  of  foreign  parents,  are  educated  and  taught  trades 
at  the  expense  of  all  the  citizens,  colored  children  are 
excluded  from  these  privileges. 

With  the  view  to  obviate  the  evils  of  such  an  unreason 
able  proscription,  a  few  ladies  of  this  city,  by  their  untir 
ing  exertions,  have  organized  an  "Asylum  for  Colored 
Orphans. "  Their  zeal  in  this  cause  is  infinitely  beyond 
all  praise  of  mine,  for  their  deeds  of  mercy  are  smiled  on 
by  Him  who  has  declared,  that  "Whosoever  shall  give  to 
drink  unto  one  of  these  little  ones  a  cup  of  cold  water, 
shall  in  no  wise  lose  her  reward."  Were  any  further 
argument  needed  to  urge  them  on  in  their  blessed  work, 

31 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

I  would  point  out  to  them  the  revolutions  of  Hayti, 
where,  in  the  midst  of  the  orgies  and  incantations  of  civil 
war,  there  appeared,  as  a  spirit  of  peace,  the  patriot,  the 
father,  the  benefactor  of  mankind — Toussaint  L'Ouver- 
ture,  a  freedman,  who  had  been  taught  to  read  while  in 
slavery! 


32 


LIBERIA:  ITS  STRUGGLES  AND  ITS  PROMISES* 
BY  HON.  HILARY  TEAGUE 

Senator  at  Monrovia,  Liberia 

As  far  back  towards  the  infancy  of  our  race  as  history 
and  tradition  are  able  to  conduct  us,  we  have  found  the 
custom  everywhere  prevailing  among  mankind,  to  mark 
by  some  striking  exhibition,  those  events  which  were 
important  and  interesting,  either  in  their  immediate 
bearing  or  in  their  remote  consequences  upon  the  destiny 
of  those  among  whom  they  occurred.  These  events  are 
epochs  in  the  history  of  man;  they  mark  the  rise  and  fall 
of  kingdoms  and  of  dynasties;  they  record  the  movements 
of  the  human  mind,  and  the  influence  of  those  movements 
upon  the  destinies  of  the  race;  and  whilst  they  frequently 
disclose  to  us  the  sad  and  sickening  spectacle  of  innocence 
bending  under  the  yoke  of  injustice,  and  of  weakness 
robbed  and  despoiled  by  the  hand  of  an  unscrupulous 
oppression,  they  occasionally  display,  as  a  theme  for 
admiring  contemplation,  the  sublime  spectacle  of  the 
human  mind,  roused  by  a  concurrence  of  circumstances, 
to  vigorous  advances  in  the  career  of  improvement. 

The  utility  of  thus  marking  the  progress  of  time — of 
recording  the  occurrence  of  events,  and  of  holding  up 


*A  speech  delivered  in  1846,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
Republic  of  Liberia. 

33 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

remarkable  personages  to  the  contemplation  of  mankind 
— is  too  obvious  to  need  remark.  It  arises  from  the 
instincts  of  mankind,  the  irrepressible  spirit  of  emulation, 
and  the  ardent  longings  after  immortality;  and  this 
restless  passion  to  perpetuate  their  existence  which  they 
find  it  impossible  to  suppress,  impels  them  to  secure  the 
admiration  of  succeeding  generations  in  the  performance 
of  deeds,  by  which,  although  dead,  they  may  yet  speak. 
In  commemorating  events  thus  powerful  in  forming  the 
manners  and  sentiments  of  mankind,  and  in  rousing  them 
to  strenuous  exertion  and  to  high  and  sustained  emula 
tion,  it  is  obvious  that  such,  and  such  only,  should  be 
selected  as  virtue  and  humanity  would  approve;  and 
that,  if  any  of  an  opposite  character  be  held  up,  they 
should  be  displayed  only  as  beacons,  or  as  towering 
Pharos  throwing  a  strong  but  lurid  light  to  mark  the 
melancholy  grave  of  mad  ambition,  and  to  warn  the 
inexperienced  voyager  of  the  existing  danger. 

Thanks  to  the  improved  and  humanized  spirit — or 
should  I  not  rather  say,  the  chastened  and  pacific  civiliza 
tion  of  the  age  in  which  we  live? — that  laurels  gathered 
upon  the  field  of  mortal  strife,  and  bedewed  with  the 
tears  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  are  regarded  now, 
not  with  admiration,  but  with  horror;  that  the  armed 
warrior,  reeking  in  the  gore  of  murdered  thousands,  who, 
in  the  age  that  is  just  passing  away,  would  have  been 
hailed  with  noisy  acclamation  by  the  senseless  crowd,  is 
now  regarded  only  as  the  savage  commissioner  of  an 
unsparing  oppression,  or  at  best,  as  the  ghostly  execu 
tioner  of  an  unpitying  justice.  He  who  would  embalm 

34 


HILARY  TEAGUE 

his  name  in  the  grateful  remembrance  of  coming  genera 
tions;  he  who  would  secure  for  himself  a  niche  in  the 
temple  of  undying  fame;  he  who  would  hew  out  for  him 
self  a  monument  of  which  his  country  may  boast;  he  who 
would  entail  upon  heirs  a  name  which  they  may  be  proud 
to  wear,  must  seek  some  other  field  than  that  of  battle  as 
the  theatre  of  his  exploits. 

We  have  not  yet  numbered  twenty-six  years  since  he 
who  is  the  oldest  colonist  amongst  us  was  the  inhabitant — 
not  the  citizen — of  a  country,  and  that,  too,  the  country 
of  his  birth,  where  the  prevailing  sentiment  is,  that  he 
and  his  race  are  incapacitated  by  an  inherent  defect  in 
their  mental  constitution,  to  enjoy  that  greatest  of  all 
blessings,  and  to  exercise  that  greatest  of  all  rights, 
bestowed  by  a  beneficent  God  upon  his  rational  creatures, 
namely,  the  government  of  themselves  by  themselves. 
Acting  upon  this  opinion,  an  opinion  as  false  as  it  is  foul — 
acting  upon  this  opinion,  as  upon  a  self-evident  proposi 
tion,  those  who  held  it  proceeded  with  a  fiendish  consist 
ency  to  deny  the  rights  of  citizens  to  those  whom  they  had 
declared  incapable  of  performing  the  duties  of  citizens. 
It  is  not  necessary,  and  therefore  I  will  not  disgust  you 
with  the  hideous  picture  of  that  state  of  things  which 
followed  upon  the  prevalence  of  this  blasphemous  theory. 
The  bare  mention  that  such  an  opinion  prevailed  would 
be  sufficient  to  call  up  in  the  mind,  even  of  those  who  had 
never  witnessed  its  operation,  images  of  the  most  sicken 
ing  and  revolting  character.  Under  the  iron  reign  of  this 
crushing  sentiment,  most  of  us  who  are  assembled  here 
to-day  drew  our  first  breath,  and  sighed  away  the  years 

35 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  our  youth.  No  hope  cheered  us;  no  noble  object 
looming  in  the  dim  and  distant  future  kindled  our  ambi 
tion.  Oppression — cold,  cheerless  oppression,  like  the 
dreary  region  of  eternal  winter, — chilled  every  noble 
passion  and  fettered  and  paralyzed  every  arm.  And  if 
among  the  oppressed  millions  there  were  found  here  and 
there  one  in  whose  bosom  the  last  glimmer  of  a  generous 
passion  was  not  yet  extinguished — one,  who,  from  the 
midst  of  inglorious  slumberers  in  the  deep  degradation 
around  him,  would  lift  up  his  voice  and  demand  those 
rights  which  the  God  of  nature  hath  bestowed  in  equal 
gift  upon  all  His  rational  creatures,  he  was  met  at  once, 
by  those  who  had  at  first  denied  and  then  enforced,  with 
the  stern  reply  that  for  him  and  for  all  his  race,  liberty 
and  expatriation  are  inseparable. 

Dreadful  as  the  alternative  was,  fearful  as  was  the 
experiment  now  proposed  to  be  tried,  there  were  hearts 
equal  to  the  task;  hearts  which  quailed  not  at  the  dangers 
which  loomed  and  frowned  in  the  distance,  but  calm, 
cool,  and  fixed  in  their  purpose,  prepared  to  meet  them 
with  the  watchword,  "  Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death. " 

Passing  by  intermediate  events,  which,  did  the  time 
allow,  it  would  be  interesting  to  notice,  we  hasten  to  the 
grand  event — the  era  of  our  separate  existence,  when  the 
American  flag  first  flung  out  its  graceful  folds  to  the  breeze 
on  the  heights  of  Mesurado,  and  the  pilgrims,  relying 
upon  the  protection  of  Heaven  and  the  moral  grandeur 
of  their  cause,  took  solemn  possession  of  the  land  in  the 
name  of  Virtue,  Humanity,  and  Religion. 

It  would  discover  an  unpardonable  apathy  were  we 

36 


HILARY  TEAGUE 

to  pass  on  without  pausing  a  moment  to  reflect  upon  the 
emotions  which  heaved  the  bosoms  of  the  pilgrims,  when 
they  stood  for  the  first  tune  where  we  now  stand.  What 
a  prospect  spread  out  before  them!  They  stood  in  the 
midst  of  an  ancient  wilderness,  rank  and  compacted  with 
the  growth  of  a  thousand  years,  unthinned  and  unre 
claimed  by  a  single  stroke  of  the  woodman's  axe.  Few 
and  far  between  might  be  found  inconsiderable  openings, 
where  the  ignorant  native  erected  his  rude  habitation, 
or  savage  as  his  patrimonial  wilderness,  celebrated  his 
bloody  rites,  and  presented  his  votive  gifts  to  demons. 
The  rainy  season — that  terrible  ordeal  of  foreign  con 
stitutions — was  about  setting  in;  the  lurid  lightning  shot 
its  fiery  bolts  into  the  forest  around  them,  the  thunder 
muttered  its  angry  tones  over  their  head,  and  the  frail 
tenements,  the  best  which  their  circumstances  could 
afford,  to  shield  them  from  a  scorching  sun  by  day  and 
drenching  rains  at  night,  had  not  yet  been  completed. 
To  suppose  that  at  this  time,  when  all  things  above  and 
around  them  seemed  to  combine  their  influence  against 
them;  to  suppose  they  did  not  perceive  the  full  danger 
and  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  they  had  embarked  in, 
would  be  to  suppose,  not  that  they  were  heroes,  but  that 
they  had  lost  the  sensibility  of  men.  True  courage  is 
equally  remote  from  blind  recklessness  and  unmanning 
timidity;  and  true  heroism  does  not  consist  in  insensibility 
to  danger.  He  is  a  hero  who  calmly  meets,  and  fearlessly 
grapples  with  the  dangers  which  duty  and  honor  forbid 
him  to  decline.  The  pilgrims  rose  to  a  full  perception  of 
all  the  circumstances  of  their  condition.  But  when  they 

37 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

looked  back  to  that  country  from  which  they  had  come, 
and  remembered  the  degradations  hi  that  house  of 
bondage  out  of  which  they  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
escape,  they  bethought  themselves;  and,  recollecting  the 
high  satisfaction  with  which  they  knew  success  would 
gladden  their  hearts,  the  rich  inheritance  they  would 
entail  upon  their  children,  and  the  powerful  aid  it  would 
lend  to  the  cause  of  universal  humanity,  they  yielded  to 
the  noble  inspiration  and  girded  them  to  the  battle  either 
for  doing  or  for  suffering. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  because  I  have  laid  universal 
humanity  under  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  founders  of 
Liberia,  that  I  have  attached  to  their  humble  achieve 
ments  too  important  an  influence  in  that  grand  system  of 
agencies  which  is  now  at  work,  renovating  human  society, 
and  purifying  and  enlarging  the  sources  of  its  enjoyment. 
In  the  system  of  that  Almighty  Being,  without  whose 
notice  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground, 

"  Who  sees,  with  equal  eye  as  God  of  all, 
A  hero  perish,  or  a  sparrow  fall, 
Atoms  or  systems  into  ruin  hurled, 
And  now  a  bubble-burst,  and  now  a  world. " 

"Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a 
reproach  to  any  people."  All  attempts  to  correct 
the  depravity  of  man,  to  stay  the  headlong  propensity  to 
vice,  to  abate  the  madness  of  ambition,  will  be  found 
deplorably  inefficient,  unless  we  apply  the  restrictions 
and  the  tremendous  sanctions  of  religion.  A  profound 
regard  and  deference  for  religion,  a  constant  recognition 
of  our  dependence  upon  God,  and  of  our  obligation  and 

38 


HILARY  TEAGUE 

accountability  to  Him;  an  ever-present,  ever-pressing 
sense  of  His  universal  and  all-controlling  providence, 
this,  and  only  this,  can  give  energy  to  the  arm  of  law, 
cool  the  raging  fever  of  the  passions,  and  abate  the  lofty 
pretensions  of  mad  ambition.  In  prosperity,  let  us 
bring  out  our  thank-offering,  and  present  it  with  cheer 
ful  hearts  in  orderly,  virtuous,  and  religious  conduct. 
In  adversity,  let  us  consider,  confess  our  sins,  and  abase 
ourselves  before  the  throne  of  God.  In  danger,  let  us  go 
to  Him,  whose  prerogative  it  is  to  deliver;  let  us  go  to 
Him,  with  the  humility  and  confidence  which  a  deep 
conviction  that  the  battle  is  not  to  the  strong  nor  the  race 
to  the  swift,  is  calculated  to  inspire. 

Fellow  citizens!  we  stand  now  on  ground  never  occu 
pied  by  a  people  before.  However  insignificent  we  may 
regard  ourselves,  the  eyes  of  Europe  and  America  are 
upon  us,  as  a  germ,  destined  to  burst  from  its  enclosure 
in  the  earth,  unfold  its  petals  to  the  genial  air,  rise  to  the 
height  and  swell  to  the  dimensions  of  the  full-grown  tree, 
or  (inglorious  fate)  to  shrivel,  to  die,  and  to  be  buried  in 
oblivion.  Rise,  fellow  citizens,  rise  to  a  clear  and  full 
perception  of  your  tremendous  responsibilities!  Upon 
you,  rely  upon  it,  depends  in  a  measure  you  can  hardly 
conceive  the  future  destiny  of  your  race.  You — you  are 
to  give  the  answer,  whether  the  African  race  is  doomed 
to  unterminable  degradation,  a  hideous  blot  on  the  fair 
face  of  Creation,  a  libel  upon  the  dignity  of  human  nature, 
or  whether  it  is  capable  to  take  an  honorable  rank  amongst 
the  great  family  of  nations !  The  friends  of  the  colony  are 
trembling:  The  enemies  of  the  colored  man  are  hoping. 

39 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Say,  fellow  citizens,  will  you  palsy  the  hands  of  your 
friends  and  sicken  their  hearts,  and  gladden  the  souls  of 
your  enemies,  by  a  base  refusal  to  enter  upon  a  career  of 
glory  which  is  now  opening  so  propitiously  before  you? 
The  genius  of  universal  emancipation,  bending  from  her 
lofty  seat,  invites  you  to  accept  the  wreath  of  national 
independence.  The  voice  of  your  friends,  swelling  upon 
the  breeze,  cries  to  you  from  afar — Raise  your  standard! 
Assert  your  independence !  throw  out  your  banners  to  the 
wind!  And  will  the  descendents  of  the  mighty  Pharaohs, 
that  awed  the  world;  will  the  sons  of  him  who  drove  back 
the  serried  legions  of  Rome  and  laid  seige  to  the  "eternal 
city" — will  they,  the  achievements  of  whose  fathers  are 
yet  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  world — will  they 
refuse  the  proffered  boon?  Never!  never!!  never!!! 
Shades  of  the  mighty  dead !  spirits  of  departed  great  ones ! 
inspire  us,  animate  us  to  the  task;  nerve  us  for  the  battle! 
Pour  into  our  bosom  a  portion  of  that  ardor  and  patri 
otism  which  bore  you  on  to  battle,  to  victory,  and  to 
conquest.  Shall  Liberia  live?  Yes;  in  the  generous 
emotions  now  swelling  in  your  bosom;  in  the  high  and 
noble  purpose — now  fixing  itself  in  your  mind,  and 
referring  into  the  unyieldingness  of  indomitable  principle, 
we  hear  the  inspiring  response — Liberia  shall  live  before 
God  and  before  the  nations  of  the  earth! 

The  night  is  passing  away;  the  dusky  shades  are 
fleeing  and  even  now 

"  Jocund  day  stands  tiptoe 
On  the  misty  mountain  top. " 


40 


WHAT  TO  THE  SLAVE  IS  THE  FOURTH 
OF  JULY?* 

BY  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

FREDERICK  DOUGLASS,  the  greatest  of  Negro  orators,  though  born  and  reared 
a  slave,  attained  great  eminence  in  the  world.  After  a  sue  essful  career  as  lecturer 
and  editor  and  author,  he  held  successively  the  positions  of  Secretary  to  the  Santo 
Domingo  Commission,  1871;  Presidential  Elector  for  the  State  of  New  York* 
1872;  United  States  Marshal  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  1876-81;  Recorder  of 
Deeds  for  the  District,  1881-86;  Minister  to  Hayti,  1889-91. 

Fellow  Citizens: 

Pardon  me,  and  allow  me  to  ask,  why  am  I  called 
upon  to  speak  here  to-day?  What  have  I  or  those  I 
represent  to  do  with  your  national  independence?  Are 
the  great  principles  of  political  freedom  and  of  natural 
justice,  embodied  in  that  Declaration  of  Independence, 
extended  to  us?  and  am  I,  therefore,  called  upon  to 
bring  our  humble  offering  to  the  national  altar,  and  to 
confess  the  benefits,  and  express  devout  gratitude  for 
the  blessings  resulting  from  your  independence  to  us? 

Would  to  God,  both  for  your  sakes  and  ours,  that  an 
affirmative  answer  could  be  truthfully  returned  to  these 
questions.  Then  would  my  task  be  light,  and  my  burden 
easy  and  delightful.  For  who  is  there  so  cold  that  a 
nation's  sympathy  could  not  warm  him?  Who  so  obdur- 

*  Extract  from  an  oration  delivered  by  Frederick  Douglass  at  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  July  5,  1852. 

41 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ate  and  dead  to  the  claims  of  gratitude,  that  would 
not  thankfully  acknowledge  such  priceless  benefits? 
Who  so  stolid  and  selfish  that  would  not  give  his  voice 
to  swell  the  halleluiahs  of  a  nation's  jubilee,  when  the 
chains  of  servitude  had  been  torn  from  his  limbs?  I  am 
not  that  man.  In  a  case  like  that,  the  dumb  might  elo 
quently  speak,  and  the  "lame  man  leap  like  a  hart." 

But  such  is  not  the  state  of  the  case.  I  say  it  with  a 
sad  sense  of  disparity  between  us.  I  am  not  included 
within  the  pale  of  this  glorious  anniversary!  Your  high 
independence  only  reveals  the  immeasurable  distance 
between  us.  The  blessings  in  which  you  this  day  re 
joice  are  not  enjoyed  in  common.  The  rich  inheritance  of 
justice,  liberty,  prosperity,  and  independence  bequeathed 
by  your  fathers  is  shared  by  you,  not  by  me.  The 
sunlight  that  brought  life  and  healing  to  you  has  brought 
stripes  and  death  to  me.  This  Fourth  of  July  is  yours, 
not  mine.  You  may  rejoice,  /  must  mourn.  To  drag 
a  man  in  fetters  into  the  grand  illuminated  temple  of 
liberty,  and  call  upon  him  to  join  you  in  joyous  anthems, 
were  inhuman  mockery  and  sacrilegious  irony.  Do  you 
mean,  citizens,  to  mock  me,  by  asking  me  to  speak  to 
day?  If  so,  there  is  a  parallel  to  your  conduct.  And  let 
me  warn  you,  that  it  is  dangerous  to  copy  the  example 
of  a  nation  whose  crimes,  towering  up  to  heaven,  were 
thrown  down  by  the  breath  of  the  Almighty,  burying 
that  nation  in  irrecoverable  ruin.  I  can  to-day  take  up 
the  lament  of  a  peeled  and  woe-smitten  people. 

"By  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  there  we  sat  down.  Yes! 
We  wept  when  we  remembered  Zion.  We  hanged  our 

42 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

harps  upon  the  willows  in  the  midst  thereof.  For  there 
they  that  carried  us  away  captive,  required  of  us  a  song; 
and  they  who  wasted  us,  required  of  us  mirth,  saying, 
Sing  us  one  of  the  songs  of  Zion.  How  can  we  sing 
the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land?  If  I  forget  thee,  O 
Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  If 
I  do  not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth." 

Fellow  citizens,  above  your  national,  tumultuous 
joy,  I  hear  the  mournful  wail  of  millions,  whose  chains, 
heavy  and  grievous  yesterday,  are  to-day  rendered  more 
intolerable  by  the  jubilant  shouts  that  reach  them.  If 
I  do  forget,  if  I  do  not  remember  those  bleeding  children 
of  sorrow  this  day,  "may  my  right  hand  forget  her  cun 
ning,  and  may  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth !" 
To  forget  them,  to  pass  lightly  over  their  wrongs,  and 
to  chime  in  with  the  popular  theme,  would  be  treason 
most  scandalous  and  shocking,  and  would  make  me 
a  reproach  before  God  and  the  world.  My  subject, 
then,  fellow  citizens,  is  "American  Slavery."  I  shall 
see  this  day  and  its  popular  characteristics  from  the 
slave's  point  of  view.  Standing  here,  identified  with 
the  American  bondman,  making  his  wrongs  mine,  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  declare,  with  all  my  soul,  that  the  char 
acter  and  conduct  of  this  nation  never  looked  blacker 
to  me  than  on  this  Fourth  of  July.  Whether  we  turn 
to  the  declarations  of  the  past,  or  to  the  professions 
of  the  present,  the  conduct  of  the  nation  seems  equally 
hideous  and  revolting.  America  is  false  to  the  past, 
false  to  the  present,  and  solemnly  binds  herself  to  be 

43 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

false  to  the  future.  Standing  with  God  and  the  crushed 
and  bleeding  slave  on  this  occasion,  I  will,  in  the  name  of 
humanity,  which  is  outraged,  in  the  name  of  liberty, 
which  is  fettered,  in  the  name  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  Bible,  which  are  disregarded  and  trampled  upon,  dare 
to  call  in  question  and  to  denounce,  with  all  the  emphasis 
I  can  command,  everything  that  serves  to  perpetuate 
slavery — the  great  sin  and  shame  of  America!  "I  will 
not  equivocate;  I  will  not  excuse;"  I  will  use  the  severest 
language  I  can  command,  and  yet  not  one  word  shall 
escape  me  that  any  man,  whose  judgment  is  not  blinded 
by  prejudice,  or  who  is  not  at  heart  a  slave-holder,  shall 
not  confess  to  be  right  and  just. 

But  I  fancy  I  hear  some  one  of  my  audience  say  it 
is  just  in  this  circumstance  that  you  and  your  brother 
abolitionists  fail  to  make  a  favorable  impression  on  the 
public  mind.  Would  you  argue  more  and  denounce  less, 
would  you  persuade  more  and  rebuke  less,  your  cause 
would  be  much  more  likely  to  succeed.  But,  I  submit, 
where  all  is  plain  there  is  nothing  to  be  argued.  What 
point  in  the  anti-slavery  creed  would  you  have  me  argue? 
On  what  branch  of  the  subject  do  the  people  of  this  coun 
try  need  light?  Must  I  undertake  to  prove  that  the 
slave  is  a  man?  That  point  is  conceded  already.  Nobody 
doubts  it.  The  slave-holders  themselves  acknowledge 
it  in  the  enactment  of  laws  for  their  government. 
They  acknowledge  it  when  they  punish  disobedience  on 
the  part  of  the  slave.  There  are  seventy-two  crimes  in 
the  State  of  Virginia,  which,  if  committed  by  a  black 
man  (no  matter  how  ignorant  he  be),  subject  him  to 

44 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

the  punishment  of  death;  while  only  two  of  these  same 
crimes  will  subject  a  white  man  to  like  punishment. 
What  is  this  but  the  acknowledgment  that  the  slave  is 
a  moral,  intellectual,  and  responsible  being?  The  manhood 
of  the  slave  is  conceded.  It  is  admitted  in  the  fact  that 
Southern  statute-books  are  covered  with  enactments, 
forbidding,  under  severe  fines  and  penalties,  the  teaching 
of  the  slave  to  read  or  write.  When  you  can  point  to 
any  such  laws  in  reference  to  the  beasts  of  the  field,  then 
I  may  consent  to  argue  the  manhood  of  the  slave.  When 
the  dogs  in  your  streets,  when  the  fowls  of  the  air,  when 
the  cattle  on  your  hills,  when  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
the  reptiles  that  crawl,  shall  be  unable  to  distinguish 
the  slave  from  a  brute,  then  will  I  argue  with  you  that 
the  slave  is  a  man! 

For  the  present  it  is  enough  to  affirm  the  equal  man 
hood  of  the  Negro  race.  Is  it  not  astonishing  that,  while 
we  are  plowing,  planting,  and  reaping,  using  all  kinds 
of  mechanical  tools,  erecting  houses,  constructing  bridges, 
building  ships,  working  in  metals  of  brass,  iron,  copper, 
silver,  and  gold;  that  while  we  are  reading,  writing,  and 
cyphering,  acting  as  clerks,  merchants,  and  secretaries, 
having  among  us  lawyers,  doctors,  ministers,  poets, 
authors,  editors,  orators,  and  teachers;  that  while  we 
are  engaged  in  all  manner  of  enterprises  common 
to  other  men — digging  gold  in  California,  capturing 
the  whale  in  the  Pacific,  feeding  sheep  and  cattle  on  the 
hillside,  living,  moving,  acting,  thinking,  planning,  living 
in  families  as  husbands,  wives,  and  children,  and  above 
all,  confessing  and  worshiping  the  Christian  God,  and 

45 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

looking  hopefully  for  life  and  immortality  beyond  the 
grave — we  are  called  upon  to  prove  that  we  are  men? 

Would  you  have  me  argue  that  man  is  entitled  to 
liberty?  That  he  is  the  rightful  owner  of  his  own  body? 
You  have  already  declared  it.  Must  I  argue  the  wrong- 
fulness  of  slavery?  Is  that  a  question  for  republicans? 
Is  it  to  be  settled  by  the  rules  of  logic  and  argumentation, 
as  a  matter  beset  with  great  difficulty,  involving  a 
doubtful  application  of  the  principle  of  justice,  hard  to 
be  understood?  How  should  I  look  to-day  in  the  pres 
ence  of  Americans,  dividing  and  subdividing  a  discourse, 
to  show  that  men  have  a  natural  right  to  freedom, 
speaking  of  it  relatively  and  positively,  negatively  and 
affirmatively?  To  do  so  would  be  to  make  myself  ridic 
ulous,  and  to  offer  an  insult  to  your  understanding. 
There  is  not  a  man  beneath  the  canopy  of  heaven  who 
does  not  know  that  slavery  is  wrong  for  him. 

What!  Am  I  to  argue  that  it  is  wrong  to  make  men 
brutes,  to  rob  them  of  their  liberty,  to  work  them  without 
wages,  to  keep  them  ignorant  of  their  relations  to  their 
fellow  men,  to  beat  them  with  sticks,  to  flay  their  flesh 
with  the  lash,  to  load  their  limbs  with  irons,  to  hunt 
them  with  dogs,  to  sell  them  at  auction,  to  sunder 
their  families,  to  knock  out  their  teeth,  to  burn  their 
flesh,  to  starve  them  into  obedience  and  submission  to 
their  masters?  Must  I  argue  that  a  system  thus  marked 
with  blood  and  stained  with  pollution  is  wrong?  No;  I 
will  not.  I  have  better  employment  for  my  time  and 
strength  that  such  arguments  would  imply. 

46 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

What,  then,  remains  to  be  argued?  Is  it  that  slavery 
is  not  divine;  that  God  did  not  establish  it;  that  our 
doctors  of  divinity  are  mistaken?  There  is  blasphemy 
in  the  thought.  That  which  is  inhuman  cannot  be  divine. 
Who  can  reason  on  such  a  proposition?  They  that  can, 
may;  I  cannot.  The  time  for  such  argument  is  past. 

At  a  time  like  this,  scorching  irony,  not  convincing 
argument,  is  needed.  Oh!  had  I  the  ability,  and  could  I 
reach  the  nation's  ear,  I  would  to-day  pour  out  a  fiery 
streak  of  biting  ridicule,  blasting  reproach,  withering 
sarcasm,  and  stern  rebuke.  For  it  is  not  light  that  is 
needed,  but  fire;  it  is  not  the  gentle  shower,  but  thunder. 
We  need  the  storm,  the  whirlwind,  and  the  earthquake. 
The  feeling  of  the  nation  must  be  quickened;  the  con 
science  of  the  nation  must  be  roused;  the  propriety  of 
the  nation  must  be  startled;  the  hypocrisy  of  the  nation 
must  be  exposed;  and  its  crimes  against  God  and  man 
must  be  denounced'. 

What  to  the  American  slave  is  your  Fourth  of  July? 
I  answer,  a  day  that  reveals  to  him,  more  than  all  other 
days  of  the  year,  the  gross  injustice  and  cruelty  to  which 
he  is  the  constant  victim.  To  him  your  celebration  is 
a  sham;  your  boasted  liberty  an  unholy  license;  your  na 
tional  greatness,  swelling  vanity;  your  sounds  of  rejoicing 
are  empty  and  heartless;  your  denunciations  of  tyrants, 
brass-fronted  impudence;  your  shouts  of  liberty  and 
equality,  hollow  mockery;  your  prayers  and  hymns, 
your  sermons  and  thanksgivings,  with  all  your  religious 
parade  and  solemnity,  are  to  him  mere  bombast,  fraud, 
deception,  impiety,  and  hypocrisy — a  thin  veil  to  cover 

47 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

up  crimes  which  would  disgrace  a  nation  of  savages. 
There  is  not  a  nation  on  the  earth  guilty  of  practises 
more  shocking  and  bloody  than  are  the  people  of  these 
United  States  at  this  very  hour. 

Go  where  you  may,  search  where  you  will,  roam 
through  all  the  monarchies  and  despotisms  of  the  Old 
World,  travel  through  South  America,  search  out  every 
abuse  and  when  you  have  found  the  last,  lay  your  facts 
by  the  side  of  the  every-day  practises  of  this  nation, 
and  you  will  say  with  me  that,  for  revolting  barbarity 
and  shameless  hypocrisy,  America  reigns  without  a  rival. 


48 


SHOULD  COLORED  MEN  BE  SUBJECT  TO  THE 
PAINS  AND  PENALTIES  OF  THE  FUGITIVE 
SLAVE  LAW?* 

BY  CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON,  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  the  first  to  counsel  resistance  to 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  lost  no  opportunity  himself  to  disobey  it.  He  was 
found  guilty  of  violating  the  law  in  rescuing  John  Price,  an  alleged  fugitive  from 
service  in  Kentucky.  This  speech  is  his  answer  to  the  question  of  the  judge  why 
the  sentence  should  not  be  pronounced  upon  him.  He  was  sentenced  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty  days' imprisonment,  and  fined  $100.00  and  costs,  amounting  to  $872.72. 

After  a  trial  of  twenty-three  days  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  the  Northern  District  of  Ohio, 
Hiram  V.  Willson  presiding,  and  at  a  cost  to  the  United 
States  Government  of  more  than  two  thousand  dollars, 
C.  H.  Langston  was  found  guilty  of  violating  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law,  by  rescuing  John  Price,  an  alleged  fugi 
tive  from  service  in  Kentucky,  from  the  custody  of  one, 
Anderson  Jennings,  at  Wellington,  on  the  I3th  day  of 
September,  1858. 

Mr.  Langston  was  sentenced  to  twenty  days*  impris 
onment  in  the  jail  of  Cuyahoga  county,  and  also  to  pay 
a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars  and  a  portion  of  the  costs  of 

*  Speech  of  Charles  H.  Langston  before  the  United  States  District  Court 
for  the  Northern  District  of  Ohio,  May  12,  1859.  Delivered  when  about  to  be 
sentenced  for  rescuing  a  man  from  slavery. 

49 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

prosecution,  amounting  to  nine  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  dollars  and  seventy  cents. 

BILL  OF  COSTS 

Fine  and  bill  of  costs  as  copied  from  the  Journal  of 
the  Court: 

Fine $100 .  oo 

Clerk's  fees 32 . 10 

Marshal's  fees 30. 40 

United  States'  witnesses 659 . 10 

Defendant's  witnesses 131-10 

Docket  fees 20 .  oo 

Total $972-70 

On  the  morning  of  the  i2th  of  May,  1859,  C.  H. 
Langston  was  brought  into  court  to  receive  his  sentence. 

The  judge,  having  entered  the  "oyez,  oyez"  of  the 
crier,  announced  the  opening  of  the  court,  and  the  rat 
tling  of  the  gavel  of  the  bailiff  soon  brought  the  immense 
crowd  to  silence.  The  business  then  proceeded  as  fol 
lows: 

THE  COURT. — Mr.  Langston,  you  will  stand  up,  sir. 
Mr.  Langston  arose. 

THE  COURT. — You  have  been  tried,  Mr.  Langston,  by  a 
jury,  and  convicted  of  a  violation  of  the  criminal  laws  of 
the  United  States.  Have  you  or  your  counsel  anything 
to  say  why  the  sentence  of  the  law  should  not  be  pro 
nounced  upon  you? 

MR.  LANGSTON. — I  am  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  before 
a  court  of  justice,  charged  with  the  violation  of  law,  and 

50 


CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

am  now  about  to  be  sentenced.  But  before  receiving 
that  sentence  I  propose  to  say  one  or  two  words  in  regard 
to  the  mitigation  of  that  sentence,  if  it  may  be  so  con 
strued.  I  can  not,  of  course,  and  do  not  expect  that 
what  I  may  say  will  in  any  way  change  your  predeter 
mined  line  of  action.  I  ask  no  such  favor  at  your  hands. 

I  know  that  the  courts  of  this  country,  that  the  laws 
of  this  country,  that  the  governmental  machinery  of  this 
country  are  so  constituted  as  to  oppress  and  outrage 
colored  men,  men  of  my  complexion.  I  cannot  then,  of 
course,  expect,  judging  from  the  past  history  of  the 
country,  any  mercy  from  the  laws,  from  the  Constitution, 
or  from  the  courts  of  the  country. 

Some  days  prior  to  the  i3th  of  September,  1858, 
happening  to  be  in  Oberlin  on  a  visit,  I  found  the  country 
round  about  there,  and  the  village  itself,  filled  with 
alarming  rumors  as  to  the  fact  that  slave-catchers,  kid 
nappers,  and  Negro  stealers  were  lying  hidden  and 
skulking  about,  awaiting  some  opportunity  to  get  their 
bloody  hands  on  some  helpless  creature,  to  drag  him 
back, — or  for  the  first  time, — into  helpless  and  lifelong 
bondage. 

These  reports  becoming  current  all  over  that  neigh 
borhood,  old  men  and  innocent  women  and  children 
became  exceedingly  alarmed  for  their  safety.  It  was  not 
uncommon  to  hear  mothers  say  that  they  dare  not  send 
their  children  to  school,  for  fear  that  they  would  be 
caught  up  and  carried  off  by  the  way.  Some  of  these 
people  had  become  free  by  long  and  patient  toil  at  night, 

51 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

after  working  the  long,  long  day  for  cruel  masters,  and 
thus  at  length  getting  money  enough  to  buy  their  liberty. 

Others  had  become  free  by  means  of  the  good  will  of 
their  masters.  And  there  were  others  who  had  become 
free — to  their  everlasting  honor,  I  say  it — by  the  in- 
tensest  exercise  of  their  own  God-given  powers; — by 
escaping  from  the  plantations  of  their  masters,  eluding 
the*  blood-thirsty  patrols  and  sentinels  so  thickly  scat 
tered  all  along  their  path,  outrunning  blood-hounds  and 
horses,  swimming  rivers  and  fording  swamps,  and  reach 
ing  at  last,  through  incredible  difficulties,  what  they,  in 
their  delusion,  supposed  to  be  free  soil.  These  three 
classes  were  in  Oberlin,  trembling  alike  for  their  safety 
because  they  well  knew  their  fate  should  these  men- 
hunters  get  their  hands  on  them. 

In  the  midst  of  such  excitement,  the  i3th  day  of 
September  was  ushered  in — a  day  ever  memorable  in  the 
history  of  Oberlin,  and  I  presume  also,  in  the  history  of 
this  court.  These  men-hunters  had,  by  lying  devices, 
decoyed  into  a  place,  where  they  could  get  their  hands 
on  him — I  will  not  say  a  slave,  for  I  do  not  know  that — 
but  a  man,  a  brother,  who  had  the  right  to  his  liberty 
under  the  laws  of  God,  under  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
under  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  excitement  the  news  came  to 
us  like  a  flash  of  lightning  that  an  actual  seizure  under 
and  by  means  of  fraudulent  pretenses,  had  been  made! 
Being  identified  with  that  man  by  color,  by  race,  by 
manhood,  by  sympathies,  such  as  God  has  implanted 
in  us  all,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  go  and  do  what  I  could  to- 

52 


CHARLES  PL  LANGSTON 

wards  liberating  him.  I  had  been  taught  by  my  Revolu 
tionary  father — and  I  say  this  with  all  due  respect  to 
him — and  by  his  honored  associates,  that  the  funda 
mental  doctrine  of  this  Government  was,  that  all  men 
have  a  right  to  life  and  liberty,  and  coming  from  the  Old 
Dominion  I  had  brought  into  Ohio  these  sentiments 
deeply  impressed  upon  my  heart.  I  went  to  Wellington, 
and  hearing  from  the  parties  themselves  by  what  author 
ity  the  boy  was  held  in  custody,  I  conceived  from  what 
little  knowledge  I  had  of  law  that  they  had  no  right  to 
hold  him.  And  as  your  Honor  has  repeatedly  laid  down 
the  law  in  this  court,  a  man  is  free  until  he  is  proven  to 
be  legally  restrained  of  his  liberty.  I  believed  that  upon 
that  principle  of  law  those  men  were  bound  to  take  their 
prisoner  before  the  very  first  magistrate  they  found  and 
there  establish  the  facts  set  forth  in  their  warrant,  and 
that  until  they  did  this  every  man  should  presume  that 
their  claim  was  unfounded,  and  to  institute  such  proceed 
ings  for  the  purpose  of  securing  an  investigation  as  they 
might  find  warranted  by  the  laws  of  this  State. 

Now,  sir,  if  that  is  not  the  plain  common  sense  and 
correct  view  of  the  law,  then  I  have  been  misled,  both  by 
your  Honor  and  by  the  prevalent  received  opinion.  It 
is  said  that  they  had  a  warrant.  Why  then,  should  they 
not  establish  its  validity  before  the  proper  officers?  And 
I  stand  here  to-day,  sir,  to  say  that  with  an  exception, 
of  which  I  shall  soon  speak,  to  procure  such  a  lawful 
investigation  of  the  authority  under  which  they  claimed  to 
actj  was  the  part  I  took  in  that  day's  proceedings,  and  the 
only  part.  I  supposed  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a  citizen  of 

53 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Ohio — excuse  me  for  saying  that,  sir, — as  an  outlaw  of 
the  United  States,  (much  sensation)  to  do  what  I  could  to 
secure  at  least  this  form  of  justice  to  my  brother,  whose 
liberty  was  at  peril. — Whatever  more  than  that  has  been 
sworn  to  on  this  trial,  as  act  of  mine,  is  false,  ridiculously 
false.    When  I  found  these  men  refusing  to  go,  according 
to  the  law,  as  I  apprehended  it,  and  subject  their  claim 
to  an  official  inspection,  and  that  nothing  short  of  a 
habeas  corpus  would  oblige  such  an  inspection,  I  was 
willing  to  go  even  thus  far,  supposing  in  that  county  a 
sheriff  might,  perhaps,  be  found  with  nerve  enough  to 
serve  it.    In  this  again,  I  failed.    Nothing  then  was  left 
to  me,  nothing  to  the  boy  in  custody,  but  the  confirma 
tion  of  my  first  belief  that  the  pretended  authority  was 
worthless,  and  the  employment  of  those  means  of  libera 
tion  which  belong  to  us.    With  regard  to  the  part  I  took 
in  the  forcible  rescue,  which  followed,  I  have  nothing  to 
say,  further  than  I  have  already  said.    The  evidence  is 
before  you.    It  is  alleged  that  I  said  "We  will  have  him 
anyhow. "    This  I  NEVER  said.    I  did  say  to  Mr.  Lowe, 
what  I  honestly  believe  to  be  the  truth,  that  the  crowd 
was  very  much  excited,  many  of  them  averse  to  longer 
delay  and  bent  upon  a  rescue  at  all  hazards;  and  that  he 
being  an  old  acquaintance  and  friend  of  mine,  I  was 
anxious  to  extricate  him  from  the  dangerous  position  he 
occupied,  and  therefore  advised  Jennings  to  give  the  boy 
up.    Further  than  this  I  did  not  say,  either  to  him  or  to 
anyone  else. 

The  law  under  which  I  am  arraigned  is  an  unjust  one, 

54 


CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

one  made  to  crush  the  colored  man,  and  one  that  outrages 
every  feeling  of  humanity,  as  well  as  every  rule  of  Right. 

With  its  constitutionality  I  have  nothing  to  do;  about 
that  I  know  but  little  and  care  much  less.  But  suppose 
it  is  constitutional,  what  then?  To  tell  me  a  law  is  con 
stitutional  which  robs  me  of  my  liberty  is  simply  ridic 
ulous.  I  would  curse  the  constitution  that  authorized 
the  enactment  of  such  a  law;  I  would  trample  the  provis 
ions  of  such  a  law  under  my  feet  and  defy  its  pains  and 
penalties.  I  would  respect  and  obey  such  an  inhuman 
law  no  more  than  OUR  revolutionary  fathers  did  the 
odious  and  absurd  doctrine  that  kings  and  tyrants  reign 
and  rule  by  divine  right.  But  it  has  often  been  said  by 
learned  and  good  men  that  this  law  is  unconstitutional. 
I  remember  the  excitement  that  prevailed  throughout  all 
the  free  States  when  it  was  passed;  I  remember,  too,  how 
often  it  has  been  said  by  individuals,  conventions,  legis 
latures,  and  even  Judges  that  it  is  not  only  unconstitu 
tional,  but  that  it  never  could  be,  never  should  be,  and 
never  was  meant  to  be  enforced.  I  had  always  believed, 
until  the  contrary  appeared  in  the  actual  institution  of 
proceedings,  that  the  provisions  of  this  odious  statute 
would  never  be  enforced  within  the  bounds  of  this  State. 

But  I  have  another  reason  to  offer  why  I  should  not 
be  sentenced,  and  one  that  I  think  pertinent  to  the  case. 
The  common  law  of  England — and  you  will  excuse  me 
for  referring  to  that,  since  I  am  not  a  lawyer,  but  a  private 
man — was  that  every  man  should  be  tried  by  a  jury  of 
men  occupying  the  same  political  and  legal  status  with 
himself.  Lords  should  be  tried  before  a  jury  of  lords; 

55 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  EWQUENCE 

peers  of  the  realm  should  be  tried  before  peers  of  the 
realm;  vassals  before  vassals.  And  even  "where  an  alien 
was  indicted,  the  jury  shall  be  demenietate,  or  half  for 
eigners";  and  a  jury  thus  constituted  were  sworn  "well 
and  truly  to  try  and  true  deliverance  make  between  the 
sovereign  lord,  the  king,  and  the  prisoner  whom  they 
have  in  charge;  and  a  true  verdict  to  give  according  to 
the  evidence  and  without  prejudice. "  The  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  guarantees — not  merely  to  its  cit 
izens,  but  to  all  persons — a  trial  before  an  impartial  jury. 
I  have  had  no  such  trial. 

The  colored  man  is  oppressed  by  certain  universal  and 
deeply  fixed  prejudices.  Those  jurors  are  well  known  to 
have  shared  largely  in  these  prejudices,  and  I  therefore 
consider  that  they  were  neither  impartial,  nor  were  they 
a  jury  of  my  peers.  Politically  and  legally  they  are  not 
my  equals.  They  have  aided  to  form  a  State  constitution 
which  denies  to  colored  men  citizenship,  and  under  that 
constitution  laws  have  been  enacted  withholding  from  us 
many  of  our  most  valuable  rights.  These  unjust  laws 
exclude  colored  men  from  the  jury  box  and  force  us  to  be 
tried  in  every  case  by  jurors,  not  only  filled  with  preju 
dices  against  us,  but  far  above  us  politically  and  legally, 
made  so  both  by  the  statute  laws  and  by  the  Constitution. 
The  prejudices  which  white  people  have  against  colored 
men  grow  out  of  the  fact  that  we  have,  as  a  people, 
consented  for  two  hundred  years  to  be  slaves  of  the  whites. 
We  have  been  scourged,  crushed,  and  cruelly  oppressed, 
and  have  submitted  to  it  all  tamely,  meekly,  peaceably; 
I  mean,  as  a  people,  with  rare  individual  exceptions, — 

56 


CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

and  to-day  you  see  us  thus  meekly  submitting  to  the 
penalties  of  an  infamous  law.  Now  the  Americans  have 
this  feeling,  and  it  is  an  honorable  one,  that  they  will 
respect  those  who  rebel  at  oppression,  but  despise  those 
who  tamely  submit  to  outrage  and  wrong;  and  while  our 
people  as  a  people  submit,  they  will  as  a  people  be  de 
spised.  Why,  they  will  hardly  meet  on  terms  of  equality 
with  us  in  a  whiskey  shop,  in  a  car,  at  a  table,  or  even  at 
the  altar  of  God,  so  thorough  and  hearty  a  contempt 
have  they  for  those  who  lie  still  under  the  heel  of  the 
oppressor.  The  jury  came  into  the  box  with  that  feeling. 
They  knew  that  they  had  that  feeling,  and  so  the  Court 
knows  now,  and  knew  then.  The  gentlemen  who  pros 
ecuted  me,  the  Court  itself,  and  even  the  counsel  who 
defended  me,  have  that  feeling. 

I  was  tried  by  a  jury  which  was  prejudiced;  before  a 
Court  that  was  prejudiced;  prosecuted  by  an  officer  who 
was  prejudiced,  and  defended,  though  ably,  by  counsel 
who  were  prejudiced.  And  therefore  it  is,  your  Honor, 
that  I  urge  by  all  that  is  good  and  great  in  manhood,  that 
I  should  not  be  subjected  to  the  pains  and  penalties  of 
this  oppressive  law,  when  I  have  not  been  tried,  either 
by  a  jury  of  my  peers,  according  to  the  principles  of  the 
common  law,  or  by  an  impartial  jury  according  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

One  more  word,  sir,  and  I  have  done.  I  went  to 
Wellington,  knowing  that  colored  men  have  no  rights  in 
the  United  States  which  white  men  are  bound  to  respect ; 
that  the  Courts  had  so  decided;  that  Congress  had  so 
enacted;  that  the  people  had  so  decreed. 

57 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

There  is  not  a  spot  in  this  wide  country,  not  even  by 
the  altars  of  God,  nor  in  the  shadow  of  the  shafts  that 
tell  the  imperishable  fame  and  glory  of  the  heroes  of  the 
Revolution;  no,  nor  in  the  old  Philadelphia  Hall,  where 
any  colored  man  may  dare  to  ask  mercy  of  a  white  man. 
Let  me  stand  in  that  Hall  and  tell  a  United  States  marshal 
that  my  father  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier;  that  he 
served  under  Lafayette,  and  fought  through  the  whole 
war,  and  that  he  fought  for  my  freedom  as  much  as  for 
his  own;  and  he  would  sneer  at  me,  and  clutch  me  with 
his  bloody  fingers,  and  say  he  has  a  right  to  make  me  a 
slave!  and  when  I  appeal  to  Congress,  they  say  he  has  a 
right  to  make  me  a  slave,  and  when  I  appeal  to  your 
Honor,  your  Honor  says  he  has  a  right  to  make  me  a 
slave.  And  if  any  man,  white  or  black,  seeks  an  investi 
gation  of  that  claim,  he  makes  himself  amenable  to  the 
pains  and  penalties  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  FOR  BLACK 

MEN  HAVE  NO  RIGHTS  WHICH  WHITE  MEN  ARE  BOUND  TO 

RESPECT.  (Great  applause.)  I,  going  to  Wellington  with 
the  full  knowledge  of  all  this,  knew  that  if  that  man  was 
taken  to  Columbus  he  was  hopelessly  gone,  no  matter 
whether  he  had  ever  been  in  slavery  before  or  not.  I 
knew  that  I  was  in  the  same  situation  myself,  and  that  by 
the  decision  of  your  Honor,  if  any  man  whatever  were  to 
claim  me  as  his  slave  and  seize  me,  and  my  brother, 
being  a  lawyer,  should  seek  to  get  out  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  to  expose  the  falsity  of  the  claim,  he  would  be 
thrust  into  prison  under  one  provision  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  for  interfering  with  the  man  claiming  to  be  in 
pursuit  of  a  fugitive,  and  I,  by  the  perjury  of  a  solitary 

58 


CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

wretch,  would  by  another  of  its  provisions  be  helplessly 
doomed  to  lifelong  bondage,  without  the  possibility  of 
escape. 

Some  may  say  that  there  is  no  danger  of  free  persons 
being  seized  and  carried  off  as  slaves.  No  one  need  labor 
under  such  a  delusion.  Sir,  four  of  the  eight  persons  who 
were  first  carried  back  under  the  act  of  1850  were  after 
wards  proved  to  be  free  men.  They  were  free  persons, 
but  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  oath  of  one  man.  And 
but  last  Sabbath  afternoon  a  letter  came  to  me  from  a 
gentleman  in  St.  Louis  informing  me  that  a  young  lady, 
who  was  formerly  under  my  instructions  at  Columbus,  a 
free  person,  is  now  lying  in  jail  at  that  place,  claimed  as 
the  slave  of  some  wretch  who  never  saw  her  before,  and 
waiting  for  testimony  of  relatives  at  Columbus  to  estab 
lish  her  freedom.  I  could  stand  here  by  the  hour  and 
relate  such  instances.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
they  must  be  constantly  occurring.  A  letter  was  not 
long  since  found  upon  the  person  of  a  counterfeiter,  when 
arrested;  addressed  to  him  by  some  Southern  gentleman, 
in  which  the  writer  says: 

"Go  among  the  niggers,  find  out  their  marks  and 
scars;  make  good  descriptions  and  send  to  me,  and  I'll 
find  masters  for  'em. " 

That  is  the  way  men  are  carried  back  to  slavery. 

But  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  I  say  that,  if  ever  again  a 
man  is  seized  near  me,  and  is  about  to  be  carried  south 
ward  as  a  slave  before  any  legal  investigation  has  been 
had,  I  shall  hold  it  to  be  my  duty,  as  I  held  it  that  day, 
to  secure  for  him,  if  possible,  a  legal  inquiry  into  the 

59 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

character  of  the  claim  by  which  he  is  held.  And  I  go 
farther;  I  say  that  if  it  is  adjudged  illegal  to  procure  even 
such  an  investigation,  then  we  are  thrown  back  upon 
those  last  defenses  of  our  rights  which  cannot  be  taken 
from  us,  and  which  God  gave  us  that  we  need  not  be 
slaves.  I  ask  your  Honor,  while  I  say  this,  to  place  your 
self  in  my  situation,  and  you  will  say  with  me  that,  if 
your  brother,  if  your  friend,  if  your  wife,  if  your  child, 
had  been  seized  by  men  who  claimed  them  as  fugitives, 
and  the  law  of  the  land  forbade  you  to  ask  any  investiga 
tion,  and  precluded  the  possibility  of  any  legal  protection 
or  redress — then  you  will  say  with  me  that  you  would 
not  only  demand  the  protection  of  the  law,  but  you 
would  call  in  your  neighbors  and  your  friends,  and  would 
ask  them  to  say  with  you,  that,  these,  your  friends,  could 
not  be  taken  into  slavery. 

And  now,  I  thank  you  for  this  leniency,  this  indul 
gence,  in  giving  a  man  unjustly  condemned,  by  a  tribunal 
before  which  he  is  declared  to  have  no  rights,  the  priv 
ilege  of  speaking  in  his  own  behalf.  I  know  that  it  will 
do  nothing  toward  mitigating  your  sentence,  but  it  is  a 
privilege  to  be  allowed  to  speak,  and  I  thank  you  for  it. 
I  shall  submit  to  the  penalty,  be  it  what  it  may.  But  I 
stand  up  here,  to  say  that  if  for  doing  what  I  did  on  that 
day  at  Wellington,  I  am  to  go  to  jail  for  six  months,  and 
pay  a  fine  of  a  thousand  dollars,  according  to  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  and  if  such  is  the  protection  the  laws  of  this 
country  afford  me,  I  must  take  upon  myself  the  respon 
sibility  of  self -protection;  when  I  come  to  be  claimed  by 
some  perjured  wretch  as  his  slave,  I  shall  never  be  taken 

60 


CHARLES  H.  LANGSTON 

into  slavery.  And  in  that  trying  hour,  I  would  have 
others  do  to  me,  as  I  would  call  upon  my  friends  to  help 
me;  as  I  would  call  upon  you,  your  Honor,  to  help  me,  as 
I  would  call  upon  you  (to  the  District  Attorney)  to  help 
me,  and  upon  you  (to  Judge  Bliss),  and  you  (his  counsel) 
so  help  me  God!  I  stand  here  to  say  that  I  will  do  all  I  can 
for  any  man  thus  seized  and  held,  though  the  inevitable 
penalty  of  six  months'  imprisonment  and  one  thousand 
dollars  fine  for  each  offense  hang  over  me !  We  have  all  a 
common  humanity,  and  that  humanity  will,  if  rightly 
exercised,  compel  us  to  aid  each  other  when  our  rights  are 
invaded.  The  man  who  can  see  a  fellow  man  wronged 
and  outraged  without  assisting  him  must  have  lost  all  the 
manly  feelings  of  his  nature.  You  would  all  assist  any 
man  under  such  circumstances;  your  manhood  would 
require  it;  and  no  matter  what  the  laws  might  be,  you 
would  honor  yourself  for  doing  it,  while  your  friends  and 
your  children  to  all  generations  would  honor  you  for 
doing  it,  and  every  good  and  honest  man  would  say  you 
had  done  right!  (Great  and  prolonged  applause,  in  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  the  Court  and  marshal.) 

Judge  Willson  remarked:  Mr.  Langston,  you  do  the 
Court  injustice  in  supposing  the  remarks  were  called  out 
as  a  mere  idle  form,  or  would  not  get  a  respectful  con 
sideration  from  the  Court. 

It  is  not  the  duty  of  the  Court  to  make  the  laws — 
that  is  left  to  other  tribunals;  but  our  duty,  under  an 
official  oath,  is  to  administer  the  laws,  good  or  bad,  as  we 
find  them. 

61 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

I  find  many  mitigating  circumstances  in  your  case, 
and  the  sentence  will  therefore  be,  that  you  pay  a  fine  of 
one  hundred  dollars  and  the  costs  of  suit,  and  be  impris 
oned  in  jail  for  twenty  days,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  Marshal  to  see  the  imprisonment  carried  out  in  this 
or  some  other  county  jail  in  this  district. 


62 


YOUNG  MEN,  TO  THE  FRONT! 
BY  HON.  RICHARD  T.  GREENER,  LL.  D. 

RICHARD  T.  GREENER,  as  far  as  is  known,  was  the  first  Negro  to  be  grad 
uated  from  Harvard  University  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  received 
the  degree  of  LL.D.  both  from  Howard  University  and  from  Liberia  College,  Mon 
rovia,  of  which  he  was  the  dean  for  some  time.  In  1897  he  was  appointed  United 
States  Consul  to  Vladivostok,  and  served  through  the  Russian-Japanese  War- 
While  in  this  official  capacity  he  was  decorated  by  the  Chinese  Government  with 
the  order  of  the  "Double  Dragon"  the  only  Negro  ever  so  honored. 

The  adage  which  was  once  so  common,  if  not  so 
thoroughly  axiomatic  as  to  gain  universal  credence — "  Old 
men  for  council  and  young  men  for  war" — assumes 
additional  notoriety  to-day,  when  the  old  men  are  quar 
reling  in  the  council  chamber  and  the  young  men  are  kept 
outside  the  door.  While  the  young  men  are  willing  to 
allow  much  to  the  school  of  experience,  many  of  them  are 
the  followers  of  Locke,  and  believe  in  the  doctrine  of 
innate  ideas.  They  believe,  to  continue  the  comparison, 
that  experience  and  wisdom  do  not  always  spring  from 
length  of  years,  nor  does  ignorance  appertain  to  youth 
as  a  necessity.  They  dare  assert  that,  as  there  are  those 
who  would  never  be  men,  lived  they  to  be  as  old  as 
Methuselah,  so  there  are  some  whose  minds  are  as  well 
filled,  whose  judgments  are  as  mature  at  twenty-five  and 
eight,  and  their  energy  as  decisive  as  though  they  were  in 
their  tenth  lustrum.  Conscious  of  this  fact,  it  is  the 

63 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

absurdity  of  folly  for  the  young  colored  men  of  the  coun 
try  to  sit  idly  by  and  see  the  grandest  opportunities 
slipping  away,  the  best  cases  lost  by  default  because  of 
the  lack  of  energy  displayed  by  many  of  our  so-called 
leaders  who  have  been  longer  on  the  field.  With  some 
very  few  exceptions,  honorable  as  they  are  rare,  they  have 
done  well  for  their  day  and  generation;  but  with  regard  to 
the  needs  and  policy  of  the  Negroes  of  the  present  hour 
they  are  as  innocent  as  babes.  Men  for  the  most  part  of 
excellent  temper  and  good  working  capacity,  they  lack 
that  which  is  the  handmaid  and  often  the  indispensable 
auxiliary  of  knowledge  and  all  effective  work — judgment. 
Unconscious  puppets  often,  they  dance  to  unseen  music, 
moved  themselves  by  hidden  wires. 

The  convention  was  the  favorite  resort  of  the  leading 
Negro  of  ten  years  ago.  He  convened  and  resolved, 
resolved  and  unconvened — read  his  own  speeches,  was 
delighted  with  his  own  frothy  rhetoric,  and  really  imag 
ined  himself  a  great  man.  He  talked  eloquently  then,  it 
must  be  granted,  because  he  spoke  of  his  wrongs;  but 
when  the  war  overturned  the  edifice  of  slavery  "Othello's 
occupation"  was  "gone,"  indeed.  The  number  who 
have  survived  and  held  their  own  under  the  new  order  of 
things  may  be  counted  upon  one  hand.  They  survive 
through  that  grand  old  law  so  much  combated  but  ever 
true — the  survival  of  the  fittest.  They  alone  give  charac 
ter  and  reputation  to  the  Negro.  They  make  for  him  a 
fame  which  begets  respect  where  his  wrongs  only  excited 
pity.  The  field  is  comparatively  clear  now  some  of  the 

64 


RICHARD  T.  GREENER 

older  hacks  have  fallen  by  the  way  or  lie  spavined  at  the 
roadside.  The  question  is,  Will  the  young  men  of  color 
throughout  the  country  resolve  to  begin  now  to  take  part 
in  public  affairs,  asserting  their  claim  wherever  it  is 
denied,  maintaining  it  wherever  contested,  and  show  that 
the  young  may  be  safe  in  counsel  as  well  as  good  for  war? 
There  are  some  who  arrogate  to  themselves  wisdom 
because  of  their  years,  just  as  some  equally  absurd  people 
think  they  are  wise  because  they  never  went  to  a  high 
school  or  an  academy — men,  Heaven  save  the  mark! 
who  pride  themselves  on  having  never  slaked  their  thirst 
at  the  fount  of  knowledge.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to 
disparage  age.  We  remember  what  Cicero  has  written, 
so  delightfully,  of  its  pleasures;  what  Cephalus  and 
Socrates  thought  of  it  in  the  Republic.  We  look  "toward 
sunset "  with  reverence  and  respect;  but  it  is  with  a  rev 
erence  that  makes  us  conscious  of  our  own  duty.  The 
young  men  are  now  studying,  working,  some,  alas!  idling 
away  their  time  who  ought  to  be  the  active,  earnest  men 
in  the  next  Presidential  campaign;  young  men  who  are  to 
control  the  destinies  of  the  race.  Many  of  them  are  of 
marked  ability  and  decidedly  energetic  in  character.  Not 
so  fluent,  perhaps,  as  their  fathers,  they  are  more  thought 
ful.  They  are  found  throughout  the  country.  We  feel 
that,  if  like  Roderick  Dhu,  we  should  put  the  whistle  to 
our  lips  and  blow  a  stirring  blast,  they  would  spring  up  in 
every  part  of  the  country  ready  with  voice,  pen,  or  muscle 
to  do  their  share  in  any  honorable  work.  In  spirit  we  do 
this,  as  young  men  ourselves,  willing  to  blow  a  blast 

65 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

which,  would  that  the  young  men  of  the  country  would 
hear  and  heed!  Young  men,  to  the  front!  Young  men, 
rouse  yourselves!  Take  the  opportunities;  make  them 
where  they  are  denied!  " Quit  you  like  men;  be  strong. " 
Young  men,  to  the  front! 


66 


THE  CIVIL  RIGHTS'  BILL* 

BY  ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

Representative  from  South  Carolina 

Mr.  Speaker: 

While  I  am  sincerely  grateful  for  this  high  mark  of 
courtesy  that  has  been  accorded  to  me  by  this  House,  it 
is  a  matter  of  regret  to  me  that  it  is  necessary  at  this  day 
that  I  should  rise  in  the  presence  of  an  American  Congress 
to  advocate  a  bill  which  simply  asserts  equal  rights  and 
equal  public  privileges  for  all  classes  of  American  citizens. 
I  regret,  sir,  that  the  dark  hue  of  my  skin  may  lend  a 
color  to  the  imputation  that  I  am  controlled  by  motives 
personal  to  myself  in  my  advocacy  of  this  great  measure 
of  national  justice.  Sir,  the  motive  that  impels  me  is 
restricted  by  no  such  narrow  boundary,  but  is  as  broad 
as  your  Constitution.  I  advocate  it,  sir,  because  it  is 
right.  The  bill,  however,  not  only  appeals  to  your  justice, 
but  it  demands  a  response  from  your  gratitude. 

In  the  events  that  led  to  the  achievement  of  American 
independence  the  Negro  was  not  an  inactive  or  uncon 
cerned  spectator.  He  bore  his  part  bravely  upon  many 
battlefields,  although  uncheered  by  that  certain  hope  of 
political  elevation  which  victory  would  secure  to  the 

*  Extracts  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  January 
6,  1874- 

67 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

white  man.     The  tall  granite  shaft,  which  a  grateful 

State  has  reared  above  its  sons  who  fell  in  defending 

Fort  Griswold  against  the  attack  of  Benedict  Arnold, 

bears  the  name  of  Jordan,  Freeman,  and  other  brave  men 

of  the  African  race,  who  there  cemented  with  their  blood 

the  corner-stone  of  the  Republic.    In  the  State  which  I 

have  the  honor  in  part  to  represent  (South  Carolina) 

the  rifle  of  the  black  man  rang  out  against  the  troops  of 

the  British  Crown  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  American 

Revolution.     Said  General  Greene,  who  has  been  justly 

termed  the   "Washington   of  the  North,"  in  a  letter 

written  by  him  to  Alexander  Hamilton,  on  the  loth  of 

January,    1781,    from    the   vicinity  of   Camden,   South 

Carolina:    "There  is  no  such  thing  as  national  character 

or  national  sentiment.     The  inhabitants  are  numerous, 

but  they  would  be  rather  formidable  abroad  than  at 

home.    There  is  a  great  spirit  of  enterprise  among  the 

black  people,  and  those  that  come  out  as  volunteers  are 

not  a  little  formidable  to  the  enemy." 

At  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  under  the  immortal 
Jackson,  a  colored  regiment  held  the  extreme  right 'of 
the  American  line  unflinchingly,  and  drove  back  the 
British  column  that  pressed  upon  them  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  So  marked  was  their  valor  on  that  occasion 
that  it  evoked  from  their  great  commander  the  warmest 
encomiums,  as  will  be  seen  from  his  dispatch  announcing 
the  brilliant  victory. 

As  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Beck),  who 
seems  to  be  the  leading  exponent  on  this  floor  of  the 
party  that  is  arrayed  against  the  principle  of  this  bill,  has 

68 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

been  pleased,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to  cast  odium 
upon  the  Negro  and  to  vaunt  the  chivalry  of  his  State,  I 
may  be  pardoned  for  calling  attention  to  another  portion 
of  the  same  dispatch.  Referring  to  the  various  regiments 
under  his  command,  and  their  conduct  on  that  field 
which  terminated  the  second  war  of  American  Independ 
ence,  General  Jackson  says.  "At  the  very  moment  when 
the  entire  discomfiture  of  the  enemy  was  looked  for  with  a 
confidence  amounting  to  certainty,  the  Kentucky  rein 
forcements,  in  whom  so  much  reliance  had  been  placed, 
ingloriously  fled." 

In  quoting  this  indisputable  piece  of  history,  I  do  so 
only  by  way  of  admonition  and  not  to  question  the  well- 
attested  gallantly  of  the  true  Kentuckian,  and  to  the 
gentleman  that  it  would  be  well  that  he  should  not 
flaunt  his  heraldry  so  proudly  while  he  bears  this  bar- 
sinister  on  the  military  escutcheon  of  his  State — a  State 
which  answered  the  call  of  the  Republic  in  1861,  when 
treason  thundered  at  the  very  gates  of  the  Capital,  by 
coldly  declaring  her  neutrality  in  the  impending  struggle. 
The  Negro,  true  to  that  patriotism  and  love  of  country 
that  have  ever  marked  and  characterized  Ms  history  on 
this  continent,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Government  in  its 
efforts  to  maintain  the  Constitution.  To  that  Govern 
ment  he  now  appeals;  that  Constitution  he  now  invokes 
for  protection  against  outrage  and  unjust  prejudices 
founded  upon  caste. 

But,  sir,  we  are  told  by  the  distinguished  gentleman 
from  Georgia  (Mr.  Stephens)  that  Congress  has  no  power 
under  the  Constitution  to  pass  such  a  law,  and  that  the 

60 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

passage  of  such  an  act  is  in  direct  contravention  of  the 
rights  of  the  States.  I  cannot  assent  to  any  such  proposi 
tion.  The  Constitution  of  a  free  government  ought 
always  to  be  construed  in  favor  of  human  rights.  Indeed, 
the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  amendments, 
in  positive  words,  invest  Congress  with  the  power  to 
protect  the  citizen  in  his  civil  and  political  rights.  Now, 
sir,  what  are  civil  rights?  Rights  natural,  modified  by 
civil  society.  Mr.  Lieber  says:  "By  civil  liberty  is 
meant,  not  only  the  absence  of  individual  restraint,  but 
liberty  within  the  social  system  and  political  organism — 
a  combination  of  principles,  and  laws  which  acknowledge, 
protect,  and  favor  the  dignity  of  man  *  *  *  civil 
liberty  is  the  result  of  man's  two  fold  character  as  an 
individual  and  social  being,  so  soon  as  both  are  equally 
respected." 

Alexander  Hamilton,  the  right-hand  man  of  Wash 
ington  in  the  perilous  days  of  the  then  infant  Republic; 
the  great  interpreter  and  expounder  of  the  Constitution, 
says:  "Natural  liberty  is  the  gift  of  a  beneficent  Creator 
to  the  whole  human  race;  civil  liberty  is  founded  on  it, 
civil  liberty  is  only  natural  liberty  modified  and  secured 

by  civil  society. " 

***** 

Are  we  then,  sir,  with  the  amendments  to  our  con 
stitution  staring  us  in  the  face;  with  these  grand  truths 
of  history  before  our  eyes;  with  innumerable  wrongs 
daily  inflicted  upon  five  million  citizens  demanding 

Lieber  on  Civil  Liberty,  page  25. 

Hamilton's  History  of  the  American  Republic,  Vol.  i,  page  70. 

70 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

redress,  to  commit  this  question  to  the  diversity  of  legisla 
tion?  In  the  words  of  Hamilton — "Is  it  the  interest  of 
the  Government  to  sacrifice  individual  rights  to  the 
preservation  of  the  rights  of  an  artificial  being  called  the 
States?  There  can  be  no  truer  principle  than  this,  that 
every  individual  of  the  community  at  large  has  an  equal 
right  to  the  protection  of  Government.  Can  this  be  a 
free  Government  if  partial  distinctions  are  tolerated  or 
maintained?" 

The  rights  contended  for  in  this  bill  are  among  "the 
sacred  rights  of  mankind,  which  are  not  to  be  rummaged 
for  among  old  parchments  or  musty  records;  they  are 
written  as  with  a  sunbeam  in  the  whole  volume  of  human 
nature,  by  the  hand  of  the  Divinity  itself,  and  can  never 
be  erased  or  obscured  by  mortal  power. " 

But  the  Slaughter-house  cases! — The  Slaughter-house 
cases ! 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  always 
swift  to  sustain  the  failing  and  dishonored  cause  of  pro 
scription,  rushes  forward  and  flaunts  in  our  faces  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Slaughter-house  cases,  and  in  that  act  he  has  been  will 
ingly  aided  by  the  gentleman  from  Georgia.  Hitherto, 
in  the  contests  which  have  marked  the  progress  of  the 
cause  of  equal  civil  rights,  our  opponents  have  appealed 
sometimes  to  custom,  sometimes  to  prejudice,  more  often 
to  pride  of  race,  but  they  have  never  sought  to  shield 
themselves  behind  the  Supreme  Court.  But  now  for  the 
first  time,  we  are  told  that  we  are  barred  by  a  decision 
of  that  court,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal.  If  this  be 

71 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

true  we  must  stay  our  hands.  The  cause  of  equal  civil 
rights  must  pause  at  the  command  of  a  power  whose 
edicts  must  be  obeyed  till  the  fundamental  law  of  our 
country  is  changed. 

Has  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky  consid 
ered  well  the  claim  he  now  advances?  If  it  were  not 
disrespectful  I  would  ask,  has  he  ever  read  the  decision 
which  he  now  tells  us  is  an  insuperable  barrier  to  the 
adoption  of  this  great  measure  of  justice? 

In  the  consideration  of  this  subject,  has  not  the  judg 
ment  of  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  been  warped  by  the 
ghost  of  the  dead  doctrines  of  States-rights?  Has  he  been 
altogether  free  from  prejudices  engendered  by  long  train 
ing  in  that  school  of  politics  that  well-nigh  destroyed 
this  Government? 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  venture  to  say  here  in  the  presence  of 
the  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  and  the  gentleman  from 
Georgia,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  country,  that 
there  is  not  a  line  or  word,  not  a  thought  or  dictum  even, 
in  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  great  Slaugh 
ter-house  cases,  which  casts  a  shadow  of  doubt  on  the 
right  of  Congress  to  pass  the  pending  bill,  or  to  adopt 
such  other  legislation  as  it  may  judge  proper  and  necessary 
to  secure  perfect  equality  before  the  law  to  every  citizen 
of  the  Republic.  Sir,  I  protest  against  the  dishonor  now 
cast  upon  our  Supreme  Court  by  both  the  gentleman 
from  Kentucky  and  the  gentleman  from  Georgia.  In 
other  days,  when  the  whole  country  was  bowing  beneath 
the  yoke  of  slavery,  when  press,  pulpit,  platform,  Con 
gress  and  courts  felt  the  fatal  power  of  the  slave 

72 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

oligarchy,  I  remember  a  decision  of  that  court  which  no 
American  now  reads  without  shame  and  humiliation. 
But  those  days  are  past;  the  Supreme  Court  of  to-day  is 
a  tribunal  as  true  to  freedom  as  any  department  of  this 
Government,  and  I  am  honored  with  the  opportunity  of 
repelling  a  deep  disgrace  which  the  gentleman  from 
Kentucky,  backed  and  sustained  as  he  is  by  the  gentle 
man  from  Georgia,  seeks  to  put  upon  it. 
*  *  *  *  * 

The  amendments  in  the  Slaughter-house  cases  one 
and  all,  are  thus  declared  to  have  as  their  all-pervading 
design  and  ends  the  security  of  the  recently  enslaved  race, 
not  only  their  nominal  freedom,  but  their  complete  pro 
tection  from  those  who  had  formerly  exercised  unlimited 
dominion  over  them.  It  is  in  this  broad  light  that  all 
these  amendments  must  be  read,  the  purpose  to  secure 
the  perfect  equality  before  the  law  of  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  What  you  give  to  one  class  you  must 
give  to  all,  what  you  deny  to  one  class  you  shall  deny  to 
all,  unless  in  the  exercise  of  the  common  and  universal 
police  power  of  the  State,  you  find  it  needful  to  confer 
exclusive  privileges  on  certain  citizens,  to  be  held  and 
exercised  still  for  the  common  good  of  all. 

Such  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Slaughter-house  cases- 
doctrines  worthy  of  the  Republic,  worthy  of  the  age, 
worthy  of  the  great  tribunal  which  thus  loftily  and 
impressively  enunciates  them.  Do  they — I  put  it  to  any 
man,  be  he  lawyer  or  not;  I  put  it  to  the  gentleman  from 
Georgia — do  they  give  color  even  to  the  claim  that  this 
Congress  may  not  now  legislate  against  a  plain  discrimina- 

73 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

tion  made  by  State  laws  or  State  customs  against  that 
very  race  for  whose  complete  freedom  and  protection 
these  great  amendments  were  elaborated  and  adopted? 
Is  it  pretended,  I  ask  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Kentucky  or  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Georgia — 
is  it  pretended  anywhere  that  the  evils  of  which  we 
complain,  our  exclusion  from  the  public  inn,  from  the 
saloon  and  table  of  the  steamboat,  from  the  sleeping- 
coach  on  the  railway,  from  the  right  of  sepulture  in  the 
public  burial-ground,  are  an  exercise  of  the  police  power 
of  the  State?  Is  such  oppression  and  injustice  nothing 
but  the  exercise  by  the  State  of  the  right  to  make  regula 
tions  for  the  health,  comfort,  and  security  of  all  her 
citizens?  Is  it  merely  enacting  that  one  man  shall  so  use 
his  own  as  not  to  injure  anothers?  Is  the  colored  race  to 
be  assimilated  to  an  unwholesome  trade  or  to  combustible 
materials,  to  be  interdicted,  to  be  shut  up  within  pre 
scribed  limits?  Let  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  or  the 
gentleman  from  Georgia  answer.  Let  the  country  know 
to  what  extent  even  the  audacious  prejudice  of  the  gentle 
man  from  Kentucky  will  drive  him,  and  how  far  even 
the  gentleman  from  Georgia  will  permit  himself  to  be  led 
captive  by  the  unrighteous  teachings  of  a  false  political 
faith. 

If  we  are  to  be  likened  in  legal  view  to  "unwholesome 
trades,"  to  "large  and  offensive  collections  of  animals" 
to  "noxious  slaughter-houses,"  to  "the  offal  and  stench 
which  attend  on  certain  manufactures"  let  it  be  avowed. 
If  that  is  still  the  doctrine  of  the  political  party,  to  which 
the  gentlemen  belong,  let  it  be  put  upon  record.  If 

74 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

State  laws  which  deny  us  the  common  rights  and  priv 
ileges  of  other  citizens,  upon  no  possible  or  conceivable 
ground  save  one  of  prejudice,  or  of  "taste"  as  the  gentle 
man  from  Texas  termed  it,  and  as  I  suppose  the  gentlemen 
will  prefer  to  call  it,  are  to  be  placed  under  the  protection 
of  a  decision  which  affirms  the  right  of  a  State  to  regulate 
the  police  power  of  her  great  cities,  then  the  decision  is 
in  conflict  with  the  bill  before  us.  No  man  will  dare 
maintain  such  a  doctrine.  It  is  as  shocking  to  the  legal 
mind  as  it  is  offensive  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  all 
who  love  justice  or  respect  manhood.  I  am  astonished 
that  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  or  the  gentleman 
from  Georgia  should  have  been  so  grossly  misled  as  to 
rise  here  and  assert  that  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  these  cases  was  a  denial  to  Congress  of  the  power 
to  legislate  against  discriminations  on  account  of  race, 
color,  or  previous  conditions  of  servitude  because  that 
Court  has  decided  that  exclusive  privileges  conferred  for 
the  common  protection  of  the  lives  and  health  of  the 
whole  community  are  not  in  violation  of  the  recent 
amendments.  The  only  ground  upon  which  the  grant  of 
exclusive  privileges  to  a  portion  of  the  community  is 
ever  defended  is  that  the  substantial  good  of  all  is  pro 
moted;  that  in  truth  it  is  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
community  that  certain  persons  should  alone  pursue 
certain  occupations.  It  is  not  the  special  benefit  conferred 
on  the  few  that  moves  the  legislature,  but  the  ultimate 
and  real  benefit  of  all,  even  of  those  who  are  denied  the 
right  to  pursue  those  specified  occupations.  Does  the 
gentleman  from  Kentucky  say  that  my  good  is  promoted 

75 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

when  I  am  excluded  from  the  public  inn?  Is  the  health 
or  safety  of  the  community  promoted?  Doubtless  his 
prejudice  is  gratified.  Doubtless  his  democratic  instincts 
are  pleased;  but  will  he  or  his  able  coadjutor  say  that 
such  exclusion  is  a  lawful  exercise  of  the  police  power  of 
the  State,  or  that  it  is  not  a  denial  to  me  of  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws?  They  will  not  so  say. 

But  each  of  these  gentlemen  quote  at  some  length 
from  the  decision  of  the  court  to  show  that  the  court 
recognizes  a  difference  between  citizenship  of  the  United 
States  and  citizenship  of  the  States.  That  is  true  and 
no  man  here  who  supports  this  bill  questions  or  overlooks 
the  difference.  There  are  privileges  and  immunities 
which  belong  to  me  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and 
there  are  other  privileges  and  immunities  which  belong 
to  me  as  a  citizen  of  my  State.  The  former  are  under  the 
protection  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  latter  are  under  the  protection  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  my  State.  But  what  of  that? 
Are  the  rights  which  I  now  claim — the  right  to  enjoy  the 
common  public  conveniences  of  travel  on  public  highways, 
of  rest  and  refreshment  at  public  inns,  of  education  in 
public  schools,  of  burial  in  public  cemeteries — rights 
which  I  hold  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  of  my 
State?  Or,  to  state  the  question  more  exactly,  is  not  the 
denial  of  such  privileges  to  me  a  denial  to  me  of  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws?  For  it  is  under  this  clause  of  the 
fourteenth  amendment  that  we  place  the  present  bill,  no 
State  shall  "deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. "  No  matter,  therefore, 

76 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

whether  his  rights  are  held  under  the  United  States  or 
under  his  particular  State  he  is  equally  protected  by  this 
amendment.  He  is  always  and  everywhere  entitled  to 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws.  All  discrimination  is 
forbidden;  and  while  the  rights  of  citizens  of  a  State  as 
such  are  not  denned  or  conferred  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  yet  all  discrimination,  all  denial  of 
equality  before  the  law,  all  denial  of  equal  protection  of 
the  laws  whether  State  or  national  laws,  is  forbidden. 
The  distinction  between  the  two  kinds  of  citizenship 
is  clear,  and  the  Supreme  Court  has  clearly  pointed  out 
this  distinction,  but  it  has  nowhere  written  a  word  or  line 
which  denies  to  Congress  the  power  to  prevent  a  denial 
of  equality  of  rights  whether  those  rights  exist  by  virtue 
of  citizenship  of  the  United  States  or  of  a  State.  Let 
honorable  members  mark  well  this  distinction.  There 
are  rights  which  are  conferred  on  us  by  the  United  States. 
There  are  other  rights  conferred  on  us  by  the  states  of 
which  we  are  individually  the  citizens.  The  fourteenth 
amendment  does  not  forbid  a  state  to  deny  to  all  its 
citizens  any  of  those  rights  which  the  state  itself  has 
conferred  with  certain  exceptions  which  are  pointed 
out  in  the  decision  which  we  are  examining.  What  it 
does  forbid  is  inequality,  is  discrimination  or,  to  use  the 
words  of  the  amendment  itself,  is  the  denial  "to  any 
person  within  its  jurisdiction,  the  equal  protection  of  the 
laws. "  If  a  State  denies  to  me  rights  which  are  common 
to  all  her  other  citizens,  she  violates  this  amendment, 
unless  she  can  show,  as  was  shown  in  the  Slaughter-house 
cases,  that  she  does  it  in  the  legitimate  exercise  of  her 

77 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

police  power.  If  she  abridges  the  rights  of  all  her  citi 
zens  equally,  unless  those  rights  are  specifically  guarded 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  she  does  not 
violate  this  amendment.  This  is  not  to  put  the  rights 
which  I  hold  by  virtue  of  my  citizenship  of  South  Carolina 
under  the  protection  of  the  national  Government;  it  is 
not  to  blot  out  or  overlook  in  the  slightest  particular  the 
distinction  between  rights  held  under  the  United  States 
and  rights  held  under  the  States;  but  it  seeks  to  secure 
equality  to  prevent  discrimination,  to  confer  as  complete 
and  ample  protection  on  the  humblest  as  on  the  highest. 
The  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  in  the  course  of  the 
speech  to  which  I  am  now  replying,  made  a  reference  to 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  which  betrays  again  the 
confusion  which  exists  in  his  mind  on  this  precise  point. 
He  tells  us  that  Massachusetts  excludes  from  the  ballot- 
box  all  who  cannot  read  and  write,  and  points  to  that 
fact  as  the  exercise  of  a  right  which  this  bill  would  abridge 
or  impair.  The  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts 
(Mr.  Dawes)  answered  him  truly  and  well,  but  I  submit 
that  he  did  not  make  the  best  reply,  why  did  he  not  ask 
the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  if  Massachusetts  had  ever 
discriminated  against  any  of  her  citizens  on  account  of 
color,  or  race,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude?  When 
did  Massachusetts  sully  her  proud  record  by  placing  on 
her  statute-book  any  law  which  admitted  to  the  ballot 
the  white  man  and  shut  out  the  black  man.  She  has 
never  done  it;  she  will  not  do  it;  she  cannot  do  it  so  long 
as  we  have  a  Supreme  Court  which  reads  the  Constitution 
of  our  country  with  the  eyes  of  Justice;  nor  can  Mass- 

78 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

achusetts  or  Kentucky  deny  to  any  man  on  account  of 
his  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude,  that 
perfect  equality  of  protection  under  the  laws  so  long  as 
Congress  shall  exercise  the  power  to  enforce  by  appro 
priate  legislation  the  great  and  unquestionable  securities 
embodied  in  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion. 

*    *    *    *    * 

Now,  sir,  having  spoken  of  the  prohibition  imposed 
by  Massachusetts,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  a  slight  inquiry 
as  to  the  effect  of  this  prohibition.  First,  it  did  not  in 
any  way  abridge  or  curtail  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  by 
any  person  who  enjoyed  such  right.  Nor  did  it  discrim 
inate  against  the  illiterate  native  and  the  illiterate  for 
eigner.  Being  enacted  for  the  good  of  the  entire  common 
wealth,  like  all  just  laws,  its  obligations  fell  equally  and 
impartially  on  all  its  citizens.  And  as  a  justification  for 
such  a  measure,  it  is  a  fact  too  well  known  almost  for 
mention  here  that  Massachusetts  had,  from  the  beginning 
of  her  history,  recognized  the  inestimable  value  of  an 
educated  ballot,  by  not  only  maintaining  a  system  of  free 
schools,  but  also  enforcing  an  attendance  thereupon,  as 
one  of  the  safeguards  for  the  preservation  of  a  real  repub 
lican  form  of  government.  Recurring  then,  sir,  to  the 
possible  contingency  alluded  to  by  the  gentleman  from 
Kentucky,  should  the  State  of  Kentucky,  having  first 
established  a  system  of  common  schools  whose  doors 
shall  swing  open  freely  to  all,  as  contemplated  by  the 
provisions  of  this  bill,  adopt  a  provision  similar  to  that 
of  Massachusetts,  no  one  would  have  cause  justly  to 

79 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

complain.  And  if  in  the  coming  years  the  result  of  such 
legislation  should  produce  a  constituency  rivaling  that 
of  the  Old  Bay  State,  no  one  would  be  more  highly 
gratified  than  I.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  neither  the  time 
nor  the  inclination  to  notice  the  many  illogical  and  forced 
conclusions,  the  numerous  transfers  of  terms,  or  the 
vulgar  insinuations  which  further  encumber  the  argument 
of  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky.  Reason  and  argument 
are  worse  than  wasted  upon  those  who  meet  every  demand 
for  political  and  civil  liberty  by  such  ribaldry  as  this — 
extracted  from  the  speech  of  the  gentleman  from  Ken 
tucky:  "I  suppose  there  are  gentlemen  on  this  floor  who 
would  arrest,  imprison,  and  fine  a  young  woman  in  any 
State  of  the  South  if  she  were  to  refuse  to  marry  a  Negro 
man  on  account  of  color,  race,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude,  in  the  event  of  his  making  her  a  proposal  of 
marriage,  and  her  refusing  on  that  ground.  That  would 
be  depriving  him  of  a  right  he  had  under  the  amendment, 
and  Congress  would  be  asked  to  take  it  up  and  say,  This 
insolent  white  woman  must  be  taught  to  know  that  it  is 
a  misdemeanor  to  deny  a  man  marriage  because  of  race, 
color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude/  and  Congress 
will  be  urged  to  say  after  a  while  that  that  sort  of  thing 
must  be  put  a  stop  to,  and  your  conventions  of  colored 
men  will  come  here  asking  you  to  enforce  that  right." 
Now,  sir,  recurring  to  the  venerable  and  distinguished 
gentleman  from  Georgia  (Mr.  Stephens)  who  has  added 
his  remonstrance  against  the  passage  of  this  bill,  permit 
me  to  say  that  I  share  in  the  feeling  of  high  personal 
regard  for  that  gentleman  which  pervades  this  House. 

80 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

His  years,  his  ability,  and  his  long  experience  in  public 
affairs  entitle  him  to  the  measure  of  consideration  which 
has  been  accorded  to  him  on  this  floor.  But  in  this 
discussion  I  cannot  and  will  not  forget  that  the  welfare 
and  rights  of  my  whole  race  in  this  country  are  involved. 
When,  therefore,  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Georgia 
lends  his  voice  and  influence  to  defeat  this  measure,  I  do 
not  shrink  from  saying  that  it  is  not  from  him  that  the 
American  House  of  Representatives  should  take  lessons 
in  matters  touching  human  rights  or  the  joint  relations 
of  the  State  and  national  governments.  While  the 
honorable  gentleman  contented  himself  with  harmless 
speculations  in  his  study,  or  in  the  columns  of  a  news 
paper,  we  might  well  smile  at  the  impotence  of  his  efforts 
to  turn  back  the  advancing  tide  of  opinion  and  progress; 
but,  when  he  comes  again  upon  this  national  arena,  and 
throws  himself  with  all  his  power  and  influence  across 
the  path  which  leads  to  the  full  enfranchisement  of  my 
race,  I  meet  him  only  as  an  adversary;  nor  shall  age  or 
any  other  consideration  restrain  me  from  saying  that  he 
now  offers  this  Government  which  he  has  done  his  utmost 
to  destroy,  a  very  poor  return  for  its  magnanimous 
treatment,  to  come  here  and  seek  to  continue,  by  the 
assertion  of  doctrines  obnoxious  to  the  true  principles 
of  our  Government,  the  burdens  and  oppressions  which 
rest  upon  five  millions  of  his  countrymen  who  never 
failed  to  lif t  their  earnest  prayers  for  the  success  of  this 
Government  when  the  gentleman  was  seeking  to  break 
up  the  union  of  these  States  and  to  blot  the  American 
Republic  from  the  galaxy  of  nations. 

81 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Sir,  it  is  scarcely  twelve  years  since  that  gentleman 
shocked  the  civilized  world  by  announcing  the  birth  of  a 
government  which  rested  on  human  slavery  as  its  corner 
stone.  The  progress  of  events  has  swept  away  that 
pseudo-government  which  rested  on  greed,  pride,  and 
tyranny;  and  the  race  whom  he  then  ruthlessly  spurned 
and  trampled  on  is  here  to  meet  him  in  debate,  and  to 
demand  that  the  rights  which  are  enjoyed  by  its  former 
oppressors — who  vainly  sought  to  overthrow  a  Govern 
ment  which  they  could  not  prostitute  to  the  base  uses  of 
slavery — shall  be  accorded  to  those  who  even  in  the 
darkness  of  slavery  kept  their  allegiance  true  to  freedom 
and  the  Union.  Sir,  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  has 
learned  much  since  1861;  but  he  is  still  a  laggard.  Let 
him  put  away  entirely  the  false  and  fatal  theories  which 
have  so  greatly  marred  an  otherwise  enviable  record. 
Let  him  accept,  in  its  fulness  and  beneficence,  the  great 
doctrine  that  American  citizenship  carries  with  it  every 
civil  and  political  right  which  manhood  can  confer.  Let 
him  lend  his  influence  with  all  his  masterly  ability,  to 
complete  the  proud  structure  of  legislation  which  makes 
this  nation  worthy  of  the  great  declaration  which  heralded 
its  birth  and  he  will  have  done  that  which  will  most 
nearly  redeem  his  reputation  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
and  best  vindicate  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  which  has 
permitted  him  to  regain  his  seat  upon  this  floor. 

To  the  diatribe  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr. 
Harris)  who  spoke  yesterday,  and  who  so  far  transcended 
the  limits  of  decency  and  propriety  as  to  announce  upon 
this  floor  that  his  remarks  were  addressed  to  white  men 

82 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

alone,  I  shall  have  no  word  of  reply.  Let  him  feel  that  a 
Negro  was  not  only  too  magnanimous  to  smite  him  in 
his  weakness,  but  was  even  charitable  enough  to  grant 
him  the  mercy  of  his  silence.  I  shall,  sir,  leave  to  others 
less  charitable  the  unenviable  and  fatiguing  task  of  sifting 
out  of  that  mass  of  chaff  the  few  grains  of  sense  that  may, 
perchance  deserve  notice.  Assuring  the  gentleman  that 
the  Negro  in  this  country  aims  at  a  higher  degree  of 
intellect  than  that  exhibited  by  him  in  this  debate,  I 
cheerfully  commend  him  to  the  commiseration  of  all 
intelligent  men  the  world  over — black  men  as  well  as 
white  men. 

Sir,  equality  before  the  law  is  now  the  broad,  universal, 
glorious  rule  and  mandate  of  the  Republic.  No  State 
can  violate  that.  Kentucky  and  Georgia  may  crowd 
their  statute-books  with  retrograde  and  barbarous  legisla 
tion;  they  may  rejoice  in  the  odious  eminence  of  then- 
consistent  hostility  to  all  the  great  steps  of  human  pro 
gress  which  have  marked  our  national  history  since 
slavery  tore  down  the  stars  and  stripes  on  Fort  Sumter; 
but,  if  Congress  shall  do  its  duty,  if  Congress  shall  enforce 
the  great  guarantees  which  the  Supreme  Court  has 
declared  to  be  the  one  pervading  purpose  of  all  the  recent 
amendments,  then  their  unwise  and  unenlightened  con 
duct  will  fall  with  the  same  weight  upon  the  gentlemen 
from  those  States  who  now  lend  their  influence  to  defeat 
this  bill,  as  upon  the  poorest  slave  who  once  had  no  rights 
which  the  honorable  gentlemen  were  bound  to  respect. 

But,  sir,  not  only  does  the  decision  in  the  Slaughter 
house  cases  contain  nothing  which  suggests  a  doubt  of 

83 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  power  of  Congress  to  pass  the  pending  bill,  but  it 
contains  an  express  recognition  and  affirmance  of  such 
power.  I  quote  from  page  81  of  the  volume:  "Nor  shall 
any  State  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the 
equal  protection  of  the  laws. " 

In  the  light  of  the  history  of  these  amendments,  and 
the  pervading  purpose  of  them  which  we  have  already 
discussed,  it  is  not  difficult  to  give  a  meaning  to  this 
clause.  The  existence  of  laws  in  the  States  where  the 
newly  emancipated  Negroes  resided,  which  discriminated 
with  gross  injustice  and  hardship  against  them  as  a  class, 
was  the  evil  to  be  remedied  by  this  clause,  and  by  it  such 
laws  are  forbidden. 

If,  however,  the  States  did  not  conform  their  views 
to  its  requirements,  then,  by  the  fifth  section  of  the  article 
of  amendment,  Congress  was  authorized  to  enforce  it  by 
suitable  legislation.  We  doubt  very  much  whether  any 
action  of  a  State  not  directed  by  way  of  discrimination 
against  the  Negroes  as  a  class,  or  on  account  of  their  race, 
will  ever  be  held  to  come  within  the  purview  of  this  provi 
sion.  It  is  so  clearly  a  provision  for  that  race  and  that 
emergency,  that  a  strong  case  would  be  necessary  for  its 
application  to  any  other.  But  as  it  is  a  State  that  is  to  be 
dealt  with,  and  not  alone  the  validity  of  its  laws,  we  may 
safely  leave  that  matter  until  Congress  shall  have  exer 
cised  its  power,  or  some  case  of  State  oppression,  by  denial 
of  equal  justice  in  its  courts,  shall  have  claimed  a  decision 
at  our  hands. 

No  language  could  convey  a  more  complete  assertion 
of  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  subject  embraced  in 

84 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

the  present  bill  than  is  here  expressed.  If  the  States  do 
not  conform  to  the  requirements  of  this  clause,  if  they 
continue  to  deny  to  any  person  within  their  jurisdiction 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  or  as  the  Supreme  Court 
had  said  "deny  equal  justice  in  its  Courts"  then  Congress 
is  here  said  to  have  power  to  enforce  the  Constitutional 
guarantee  by  appropriate  legislation.  That  is  the  power 
which  this  bill  now  seeks  to  put  in  exercise. 

It  proposes  to  enforce  the  Constitutional  guarantee 
against  inequality  and  discrimination  by  appropriate 
legislation.  It  does  not  seek  to  confer  new  rights,  nor  to 
place  rights  conferred  by  State  citizenship  under  the 
protection  of  the  United  States,  but  simply  to  prevent 
and  forbid*  inequality  and  discrimination  on  account  of 
race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.  Never 
was  there  a  bill  which  appealed  for  support  more  strongly 
to  that  sense  of  justice  and  fair  play  which  has  been  said, 
and  in  the  main  with  justice,  to  be  a  characteristic  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  The  Constitution  warrants  it;  the 
Supreme  Court  sanctions  it;  justice  demands  it. 

Sir,  I  have  replied  to  the  extent  of  my  ability  to  the 
arguments  which  have  been  presented  by  the  opponents 
of  this  measure.  I  have  replied  also  to  some  of  the  legal 
propositions  advanced  by  gentlemen  on  the  other  side; 
and  now  that  I  am  about  to  conclude,  I  am  deeply  sensible 
of  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  I  have  performed  the 
task.  Technically,  this  bill  is  to  decide  upon  the  civil 
status  of  the  colored  American  citizen;  a  point  disputed 

85 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

at  the  very  formation  of  our  present  form  of  government, 
when  by  a  short-sighted  policy,  a  policy  repugnant  to 
true  republican  government,  one  Negro  counted  as  three- 
fifth  of  a  man.  The  logical  result  of  this  mistake  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  strengthened  the  cancer  of 
slavery,  which  finally  spread  its  poisonous  tentacles  over 
the  southern  portion  of  the  body  politic.  To  arrest  its 
growth  and  save  the  nation  we  have  passed  through  the 
harrowing  operation  of  intestine  war,  dreaded  at  all 
times,  resorted  to  at  the  last  extremity,  like  the  surgeon's 
knife,  but  absolutely  necessary  to  extirpate  the  disease 
which  threatened  with  the  life  of  the  nation  the  overthrow 
of  civil  and  political  liberty  on  this  continent.  In  that 
dire  extremity  the  members  of  the  -ace  which  I  have  the 
honor  in  part  to  represent — the  race  which  pleads  for 
justice  at  your  hands  to-day, — forgetful  of  their  inhuman 
and  brutalizing  servitude  at  the  South,  their  degradation 
and  ostracism  at  the  North,  flew  willingly  and  gallantly 
to  the  support  of  the  national  Government. 

Their  sufferings,  assistance,  privations,  and  trials  in 
the  swamps  and  in  the  rice-fields,  their  valor  on  the  land 
and  on  the  sea,  form  a  part  of  the  ever-glorious  record 
which  makes  up  the  history  of  a  nation  preserved,  and 
might,  should  I  urge  the  claim,  incline  you  to  respect 
and  guarantee  their  rights  and  privileges  as  citizens  of 
our  common  Republic.  But  I  remember  that  valor, 
devotion,  and  loyalty  are  not  always  rewarded  according 
to  their  just  deserts,  and  that  after  the  battle  some  who 
have  borne  the  brunt  of  the  fray  may,  through  neglect 

86 


ROBERT  BROWNE  ELLIOT 

or  contempt,  be  assigned  to  a  subordinate  place,  while 
the  enemies  in  war  may  be  preferred  to  the  sufferers. 

The  results  of  the  war,  as  seen  in  reconstruction,  have 
settled  forever  the  political  status  of  my  race.  The  pas 
sage  of  this  bill  will  determine  the  civil  status,  not  only 
of  the  Negro,  but  of  any  other  class  of  citizens  who  may 
feel  themselves  discriminated  against.  It  will  form  the 
cap-stone  of  that  temple  of  liberty,  begun  on  this  conti 
nent  under  discouraging  circumstances,  carried  on  in 
spite  of  the  sneers  of  monarchists  and  the  cavils  of  pre 
tended  friends  of  freedom,  until  at  last  it  stands,  in  all 
its  beautiful  symmetry  and  proportions,  a  building  the 
grandest  which  the  world  has  ever  seen,  realizing  the 
most  sanguine  expectations  and  the  highest  hopes  of 
those  who,  in  the  name  of  equal,  impartial,  and  universal 
liberty,  laid  the  foundation-stone. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  tell  us  of  an  humble  handmaiden 
who  long,  faithfully,  and  patiently  gleaned  in  the  rich 
fields  of  her  wealthy  kinsman,  and  we  are  told  further 
that  at  last,  in  spite  of  her  humble  antecedents  she  found 
favor  in  his  sight.  For  over  two  centuries  our  race  has 
"reaped  down  your  fields, "  the  cries  and  woes  which  we 
have  uttered  have  "entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth"  and  we  are  at  last  politically  free.  The  last 
vestiture  only  is  needed — civil  rights.  Having  gained 
this,  we  may,  with  hearts  overflowing  with  gratitude  and 
thankful  that  our  prayer  has  been  answered,  repeat  the 
prayer  of  Ruth:  "Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to 
return  from  following  after  thee;  for  whither  thou  goest, 

87 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

I  will  go;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge;  thy  people 
shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God;  where  thou 
diest  I  will  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried;  the  Lord 
do  so  tome,  and  more  also,  if  ought  but  death  part  thee 
and  me." 


CIVIL  RIGHTS  AND  SOCIAL  EQUALITY* 
BY  HON.  JOHN  R.  LYNCH 

The  House  having  under  consideration  the  civil-rights 
bill,  Mr.  Lynch  said : 

Mr.  Speaker: 

I  will  now  endeavor  to  answer  the  arguments  of  those 
who  have  been  contending  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  is 
an  effort  to  bring  about  social  equality  between  the  races. 
That  the  passage  of  this  bill  can  in  any  manner  affect  the 
social  status  of  any  one  seems  to  me  to  be  absurd  and 
ridiculous.  I  ha\e  never  believed  for  a  moment  that 
social  equality  could  be  brought  about  even  between 
persons  of  the  same  race.  I  have  always  believed  that 
social  distinctions  existed  among  white  people  the  same 
as  among  colored  people.  But  those  who  contend  that 
the  passage  of  this  bill  will  have  a  tendency  to  bring  about 
social  equality  between  the  races  virtually  and  sub 
stantially  admit  that  there  are  no  social  distinctions 
among  white  people  whatever,  but  that  all  white  persons, 
regardless  of  their  moral  character,  are  the  social  equals 
of  each  other;  for  if  by  conferring  upon  colored  people  the 
same  rights  and  privileges  that  are  now  exercised  and 
enjoyed  by  whites  indiscriminately  will  result  in  bringing 

*  A  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  3,  1875. 

SO 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

about  social  equality  between  the  races,  then  the  same 
process  of  reasoning  must  necessarily  bring  us  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  are  no  social  distinctions  among 
whites,  because  all  white  persons,  regardless  of  their 
social  standing,  are  permitted  to  enjoy  these  rights.  See 
then  how  unreasonable,  unjust,  and  false  is  the  assertion 
that  social  equality  is  involved  in  this  legislation.  I  can 
not  believe  that  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the  House 
mean  what  they  say  when  they  admit  as  they  do  that  the 
immoral,  the  ignorant,  and  the  degraded  of  their  own  race 
are  the  social  equals  of  themselves  and  their  families. 
If  they  do,  then  I  can  only  assure  them  that  they  do  not 
put  as  high  an  estimate  upon  their  own  social  standing 
as  respectable  and  intelligent  colored  people  place  upon 
theirs;  for  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  white 
people  of  both  sexes  whom  I  know  to  be  the  social  inferiors 
of  respectable  and  intelligent  colored  people.  I  can  then 
assure  that  portion  of  my  Democratic  friends  on  the  other 
side  of  the  House  whom  I  regard  as  my  social  inferiors 
that  if  at  any  time  I  should  meet  any  one  of  you  at  a 
hotel  and  occupy  a  seat  at  the  same  table  with  you,  or 
the  same  seat  in  a  car  with  you,  do  not  think  that  I  have 
thereby  accepted  you  as  my  social  equal.  Not  at  all. 
But  if  any  one  should  attempt  to  discriminate  against  you 
for  no  other  reason  than  because  you  are  identified  with  a 
particular  race  or  religious  sect,  I  would  regard  it  as  an 
outrage;  as  a  violation  of  the  principles  of  republicanism; 
and  I  would  be  in  favor  of  protecting  you  in  the  exercise 
and  enjoyment  of  your  rights  by  suitable  and  appropriate 
legislation. 

90 


JOHN  R.  LYNCH 

No,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  not  social  rights  that  we  desire. 
We  have  enough  of  that  already.  What  we  ask  is  protec 
tion  in  the  enjoyment  of  public  rights.  Rights  which  are 
or  should  be  accorded  to  every  citizen  alike.  Under  our 
present  system  of  race  distinctions  a  white  woman  of  a 
questionable  social  standing,  yea,  I  may  say,  of  an  admit 
ted  immoral  character,  can  go  to  any  public  place  or  upon 
any  public  conveyance  and  be  the  recipient  of  the  same 
treatment,  the  same  courtesy,  and  the  same  respect  that 
is  usually  accorded  to  the  most  refined  and  virtuous;  but 
let  an  intelligent,  modest,  refined  colored  lady  present 
herself  and  ask  that  the  same  privileges  be  accorded  to 
her  that  have  just  been  accorded  to  her  social  inferior  of 
the  white  race,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  except  in 
certain  portions  of  the  country,  she  will  not  only  be 
refused,  but  insulted  for  making  the  request. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  ask  the  members  of  this  House  in  all 
candor,  is  this  right?  I  appeal  to  your  sensitive  feelings 
as  husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers,  is  this  just?  You  who 
have  affectionate  companions,  attractive  daughters,  and 
loving  sisters,  is  this  just?  If  you  have  any  of  the  ingre 
dients  of  manhood  in  your  composition  you  will  answer 
the  question  most  emphatically,  No!  What  a  sad  com 
mentary  upon  our  system  of  government,  our  religion, 
and  our  civilization!  Think  of  it  for  a  moment;  here  am 
I,  a  member  of  your  honorable  body,  representing  one  of 
the  largest  and  wealthiest  districts  in  the  State  of  Mis 
sissippi,  and  possibly  in  the  South;  a  district  composed 
of  persons  of  different  races,  religions,  and  nationalities 
and  yet,  when  I  leave  my  home  to  come  to  the  capital  of 

91 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  nation,  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  House 
and  to  participate  with  you  in  making  laws  for  the  gov 
ernment  of  this  great  Republic,  in  coming  through  the 
God-forsaken  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  if  I 
come  by  the  way  of  Louisville  or  Chattanooga,  I  am 
treated,  not  as  an  American  citizen,  but  as  a  brute. 
Forced  to  occupy  a  filthy  smoking-car  both  night  and  day, 
with  drunkards,  gamblers,  and  criminals;  and  for  what? 
Not  that  I  am  unable  or  unwilling  to  pay  my  way;  not 
that  I  am  obnoxious  in  my  personal  appearance  or  dis 
respectful  in  my  conduct;  but  simply  because  I  happen  to 
be  of  a  darker  complexion.  If  this  treatment  was  confined 
to  persons  of  our  own  sex  we  could  possibly  afford  to 
endure  it.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  Our  wives  and  our 
daughters,  our  sisters  and  our  mothers,  are  subjected  to 
the  same  insults  and  to  the  same  uncivilized  treatment. 
You  may  ask  why  we  do  not  institute  civil  suits  in  the 
State  courts.  What  a  farce!  Talk  about  instituting  a 
civil-rights  suit  in  the  State  courts  of  Kentucky,  for 
instance,  where  decision  of  the  judge  is  virtually  rendered 
before  he  enters  the  court-house,  and  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  substantially  rendered  before  it  is  impaneled.  The 
only  moments  of  my  life  when  I  am  necessarily  compelled 
to  question  my  loyalty  to  my  Government  or  my  devotion 
to  the  flag  of  my  country  is  when  I  read  of  outrages  having 
been  committed  upon  innocent  .colored  people  and  the 
perpetrators  go  unwhipped  of  justice,  and  when  I  leave 
my  home  to  go  traveling. 

Mr.  Speaker,  if  this  unjust  discrimination  is  to  be 
longer  tolerated  by  the  American  people,  which  I  do  not, 

92 


JOHN  R.  LYNCH 

cannot,  and  will  not  believe  until  I  am  forced  to  do  so, 
then  I  can  only  say  with  sorrow  and  regret  that  our 
boasted  civilization  is  a  fraud;  our  republican  institutions 
a  failure;  our  social  system  a  disgrace;  and  our  religion  a 
complete  hypocrisy.  But  I  have  an  abiding  confidence — 
(though  I  must  confess  that  that  confidence  was  seriously 
shaken  a  little  over  two  months  ago) — but  still  I  have  an 
abiding  confidence  in  the  patriotism  of  this  people,  in 
their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  human  rights,  and  in  the 
stability  of  our  republican  institutions.  I  hope  that  I 
will  not  be  deceived.  I  love  the  land  that  gave  me  birth ; 
I  love  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  This  country  is  where  I 
intend  to  live,  where  I  expect  to  die.  To  preserve  the 
honor  of  the  national  flag  and  to  maintain  perpetually 
the  Union  of  the  States  hundreds,  and  I  may  say  thou 
sands,  of  noble,  brave,  and  true-hearted  colored  men 
have  fought,  bled,  and  died.  And  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I 
ask,  can  it  be  possible  that  that  flag  under  which  they 
fought  is  to  be  a  shield  and  a  protection  to  all  races  and 
classes  of  persons  except  the  colored  race?  God  forbid! 
*  *  *  *  * 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  say  to  the  Republican 
members  of  the  House  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  is 
expected  of  you.  If  any  of  our  Democratic  friends  will 
vote  for  it,  we  will  be  agreeably  surprised.  But  if  Repub 
licans  should  vote  against  it,  we  will  be  sorely  disap 
pointed;  it  will  be  to  us  a  source  of  deep  mortification  as 
well  as  profound  regret.  We  will  feel  as  though  we  are 
deserted  in  the  house  of  our  friends.  But  I  have  no  fears 
whatever  in  this  respect.  You  have  stood  by  the  colored 

93 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

people  of  this  country  when  it  was  more  unpopular  to  do 
so  than  it  is  to  pass  this  bill.  You  have  fulfilled  every 
promise  thus  far,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  you 
will  not  fulfill  this  one.  Then  give  us  this  bill.  The  white 
man's  government  Negro-hating  democracy  will,  in  my 
judgment,  soon  pass  out  of  existence.  The  progressive 
spirit  of  the  American  people  will  not  much  longer  tolerate 
the  existence  of  an  organization  that  lives  upon  the  pas 
sions  and  prejudices  of  the  hour. 

I  appeal  to  all  the  members  of  the  House — Repub 
licans  and  Democrats,  conservatives  and  liberals — to 
join  with  us  in  the  passage  of  this  bill,  which  has  its  object 
the  protection  of  human  rights.  And  when  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  can  feel  and  know  that  his,  her,  and 
their  rights  are  fully  protected  by  the  strong  arm  of  a 
generous  and  grateful  Republic,  then  we  can  all  truth 
fully  say  that  this  beautiful  land  of  ours,  over  which  the 
"Star-Spangled  Banner"  so  triumphantly  waves,  is,  in 
truth  and  in  fact,  the  "land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of 
the  brave. " 


ALEXANDER  DUMAS,  FILS* 

The  following  public  tribute  was  paid  to  his  father  by  the  younger  Dumas 
on  the  occasion  of  taking  his  seat  in  the  French  Academy  (February  n, 


"The  fact/7  said  he,  "that  so  many  men  superior  to 
me  have  had  to  knock  many  times  at  your  door  before  it 
was  opened  to  them  would  fill  me  with  pride,  did  I  not 
know  the  real  reason  of  your  sympathy.  In  order  to 
reach  my  place  among  you,  gentlemen,  I  have  employed 
magical  spells,  I  have  used  witchcraft.  Standing  on  my 
own  merits  alone  I  should  not  have  dared  to  face  your 
judgment,  but  I  knew  that  a  good  genius  —  that  is  the 
right  word  —  was  fighting  on  my  behalf,  and  that  you  were 
determined  to  offer  no  defense.  I  have  sheltered  myself 
under  a  name  which  you  would  have  wished  long  ago  to 
honor  in  itself,  and  which  you  are  now  able  to  honor  only 
in  me.  Believe  me,  gentlemen,  it  is  with  the  greatest 
modesty  that  I  come  to-day  to  accept  a  reward  which  has 
been  so  easily  granted  to  me  only  because  it  was  reserved 
for  another.  I  cannot  —  I  may  not  —  receive  it  except  in 
trust;  allow  me  then,  at  once  and  publicly,  to  make 
restitution  of  it  to  the  man  who,  unhappily,  can  no  longer 


*  From  "The  Life  of  A.  Dumas,"  by  Arthur  E.  Davidson,  (p.  356). 

95 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

receive  it  himself.  Thus  you  will  be  granting  me  the 
highest  honor  which  I  can  covet,  and  the  only  one  to 
which  I  have  any  real  right. " 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  CENTEN 
NIAL  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  PENNSYL 
VANIA  SOCIETY  FOR  PROMOTING  THE 
ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY* 

BY  JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  history  of  this  Association,  owing  to  its  objects 
and  achievements,  sweep  in  an  interest  that  is  not  confined 
to  any  class :  an  interest  that  is  not  confined  to  any  people, 
and  whose  scope  and  consequences  cannot  be  foretold  by 
human  inspiration.  It  affects  the  emancipation  of  a 
whole  race;  and  in  that  it  touches  the  progress  and  char 
acter  of  all  who  are  brought  in  contact  with  that  race, 
the  forms  of  government  over  the  world  and  the  world's 
progress  in  all  departments.  There  was  a  recent  time  in 
American  history  when  no  man,  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth,  could  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  say  that  he  possessed  all  of  his  civil  and  political 
liberties.  Garrison  could  not  speak  in  New  Orleans,  nor 
could  the  silver-tongued  Phillips  address  an  audience 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Nor  was  it  expedient 
for  John  C.  Calhoun  to  address  his  arguments  in  Inde 
pendence  Hall,  or  for  Davis  and  Yulee  and  Mason  to 

*  Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  April  14,  1875. 

97 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

propound  theirs  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Speech  was  itself  in 
thrall,  and  bound  to  the  section  in  which  it  found  voice. 
When  Garrison  and  Phillips  had  been  invited  to  speak  in 
Cincinnati,  they  were  counseled  by  their  friends  not  to 
do  so.  There  was  danger  that  the  mobs  of  Covington 
and  Cincinnati  would  assassinate  them  publicly;  and  it 
is  notorious  that  the  opposing  arguments  that  reached 
Washington  from  the  North  and  from  the  South  advanced 
no  further  in  either  direction.  This  impugned  and  belied 
the  very  freedom  declared  in  the  Declaration  and  Con 
stitution;  and  made  both  the  mockery  of  Europe.  The 
contradiction  is  reconciled;  the  taunt  is  silenced;  speech 
is  legally  free  and  protected  over  all  the  Union,  and  the 
Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society  has  done  more  than  any 
other  agency — more  than  all  other  agencies  combined — 
to  vitalize  the  Constitution  and  give  being  to  the  Declara 
tion.  This  society  fought  for  the  glowing  assertion  of  all 
the  centuries:  That  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  are 
endowed  with  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  It  kept  the  contrast  between  the 
declaration  and  its  practise  in  a  clear  light.  It  repeated 
the  assertion  and  reasserted  it.  It  argued  the  justice  with 
the  very  facts  and  reasons  that  had  been  presented  to  the 
Congress  by  whom  the  Declaration  was  framed.  Undis 
turbed  by  ridicule,  unchecked  by  hostility,  undaunted 
by  persecution,  it  has  kept  the  law  in  the  van  of  the 
fight;  sustained  it  by  reserves  of  humane  reason;  by 
appeals  to  national  strength  and  welfare,  and  growth, 
and  influence,  and  wealth;  it  disseminated  the  truth  in 
churches,  at  the  polls,  in  lyceums,  by  the  press;  it  was 


JOHN  M.  LANGSTON 

unanswerable  because  its  claim  was  founded  in  equity, 
and  recognized  in  religion,  and  had  ineradicable  place  in 
the  great  muniment  of  national  being.  It  appealed  to  the 
individual  conscience  as  well  as  to  pride,  patriotism, 
piety,  and  interest,  and  it  won,  and  now  celebrates  a 
victory  immeasurably  greater  than  that  of  Yorktown  or 
Waterloo  or  Marathon.  Those  were  the  victories  of  nation 
over  nation,  or  at  the  utmost  of  a  principle  of  limited 
application.  We  celebrate  the  successful  battle  of  the 
grandest  principle  in  human  organization;  that  is  con 
fined  to  no  race,  limited  to  no  country,  cramped  by  no 
restriction,  but  is  as  broad  as  the  world,  as  applicable 
as  humanity  itself  and  as  enduring  as  time.  The  senti 
ment  which  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  was  contained  in 
an  address  delivered  before  the  Pennsylvania  Abolition 
Society  by  Benjamin  Rush,  one  of  its  earliest  and  most 
honored  members.  It  was:  "Freedom  and  slavery  can 
not  long  exist  together!" 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Abolition  Society, 
those  who  see  the  American  citizens  of  African  descent 
one  hundred  years  hence  will  be  proud  of  them,  and 
convinced  that  the  great  century  struggle  that  won 
their  enfranchisement  was  worth  infinitely  more  than  it 
cost.  We  are  now  leaving  politics.  We  have  gained 
through  them  the  rights  and  opportunities  they  conferred, 
that  could  be  secured  in  no  other  way.  We  are  devoting 
ourselves  to  learning  and  industry;  the  attainment  of 
wealth  and  manufacture  of  character.  We  shall  never 
leave  our  home.  There  are  but  two  facts  to  be  recognized. 
We  are  here.  The  white  race  is  here.  Both  share  the 

99 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

same  rights;  make  and  obey  the  same  laws;  struggle  for 
progress  under  the  same  conditions.  The  logical  conclu 
sion  of  our  birthright  and  of  our  proclaimed  and  perfected 
equality  before  the  law  is  that  we  shall  remain,  and 
remaining  strive  with  equal  advantages  with  our  white 
fellow  citizens  for  our  own  good  and  the  nation's  welfare. 


100 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  CENTEN 
NIAL  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  PENNSYL 
VANIA  SOCIETY  FOR  PROMOTING  THE 
ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY* 

BY  MRS.  FRANCES  ELLEN  WATKINS  HARPER 

FRANCES  ELLEN  WATKINS  HARPER  was  a  distinguished  anti-slavery  leo 
turer,  writer  and  poet,  born  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  1825,  of  free  parents. 
After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  she  went  South  and  worked  as  a  teacher  and  lec 
turer,  but  later  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  she  devoted  her  time  to  lecturing 
and  writing  for  the  temperance  cause,  having  charge,  for  a  number  of  years,  of  the 
W.  C.  T.  U.  work  among  Negroes.  "Tola  Leroy,  or  the  Shadows  Uplifted,"  is 
her  best-known  work,  besides  which  she  published  a  number  of  small  books  of 
verses. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  great  problem  to  be  solved  by  the  American 
people,  if  I  understand  it,  is  this:  Whether  or  not  there 
is  strength  enough  in  democracy,  virtue  enough  in  our 
civilization,  and  power  enough  in  our  religion  to  have 
mercy  and  deal  justly  with  four  millions  of  people  but 
lately  translated  from  the  old  oligarchy  of  slavery  to  the 
new  commonwealth  of  freedom;  and  upon  the  right  solu 
tion  of  this  question  depends  in  a  large  measure  the  future 
strength,  progress,  and  durability  of  our  nation.  The 
most  important  question  before  us  colored  people  is  not 
simply  what  the  Democratic  party  may  do  against  us  or 
the  Republican  party  do  for  us;  but  what  are  we  going  to 

*  Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  April  14,  1875. 

101 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

do  for  ourselves?  What  shall  we  do  towards  developing 
our  character,  adding  our  quota  to  the  civilization  and 
strength  of  the  country,  diversifying  our  industry,  and 
practising  those  lordly  virtues  that  conquer  success,  and 
turn  the  world's  dread  laugh  into  admiring  recognition? 
The  white  race  has  yet  work  to  do  in  making  practical 
the  political  axiom  of  equal  rights,  and  the  Christian  idea 
of  human  brotherhood;  but  while  I  lift  mine  eyes  to  the 
future  I  would  not  ungratefully  ignore  the  past.  One 
hundred  years  ago  and  Africa  was  the  privileged  hunting- 
ground  of  Europe  and  America,  and  the  flag  of  different 
nations  hung  a  sign  of  death  on  the  coasts  of  Congo  and 
Guinea,  and  for  years  unbroken  silence  had  hung  around 
the  horrors  of  the  African  slave-trade.  Since  then  Great 
Britain  and  other  nations  have  wiped  the  bloody  traffic 
from  their  hands,  and  shaken  the  gory  merchandise  from 
their  fingers,  and  the  brand  of  piracy  has  been  placed 
upon  the  African  slave-trade.  Less  than  fifty  years  ago 
mob  violence  belched  out  its  wrath  against  the  men  who 
dared  to  arraign  the  slaveholder  before  the  bar  of  con 
science  and  Christendom.  Instead  of  golden  showers 
upon  his  head,  he  who  garrisoned  the  front  had  a  halter 
around  his  neck.  Since,  if  I  may  borrow  the  idea,  the 
nation  has  caught  the  old  inspiration  from  his  lips  and 
written  it  in  the  new  organic  world.  Less  than  twenty- 
five  years  ago  slavery  clasped  hands  with  King  Cotton, 
and  said  slavery  fights  and  cotton  conquers  for  American 
slavery.  Since  then  slavery  is  dead,  the  colored  man  has 
exchanged  the  fetters  on  his  wrist  for  the  ballot  in  his 
hand.  Freedom  is  king,  and  Cotton  a  subject. 

102 


FRANCES  E.  W.  HARPER 

It  may  not  seem  to  be  a  gracious  thing  to  mingle 
complaint  in  a  season  of  general  rejoicing.  It  may  appear 
like  the  ancient  Egyptians  seating  a  corpse  at  their  festal 
board  to  avenge  the  Americans  for  their  shortcomings 
when  so  much  has  been  accomplished.  And  yet  with  all 
the  victories  and  triumphs  which  freedom  and  justice 
have  won  in  this  country,  I  do  not  believe  there  is  another 
civilized  nation  under  Heaven  where  there  are  half  so 
many  people  who  have  been  brutally  and  shamefully 
murdered,  with  or  without  impunity,  as  in  this  Republic 
within  the  last  ten  years.  And  who  cares?  Where  is  the 
public  opinion  that  has  scorched  with  red-hot  indignation 
the  cowardly  murderers  of  Vicksburg  and  Louisiana? 
Sheridan  lifts  up  the  vail  from  Southern  society,  and 
behind  it  is  the  smell  of  blood,  and  our  bones  scattered  at 
the  grave's  mouth;  murdered  people;  a  White  League 
with  its  "covenant  of  death  and  agreement  with  hell." 
And  who  cares?  What  city  pauses  one  hour  to  drop  a 
pitying  tear  over  these  mangled  corpses,  or  has  forged 
against  the  perpetrator  one  thunderbolt  of  furious  protest? 
But  let  there  be  a  supposed  or  real  invasion  of  Southern 
rights  by  our  soldiers,  and  our  great  commercial  em 
porium  will  rally  its  forces  from  the  old  man  in  his  classic 
shades,  to  clasp  hands  with  "dead  rabbits"  and  "plug- 
uglies"  in  protesting  against  military  interference.  What 
we  need  to-day  in  the  onward  march  of  humanity  is  a 
public  sentiment  in  favor  of  common  justice  and  simple 
mercy.  We  have  a  civilization  which  has  produced  grand 
and  magnificent  results,  diffused  knowledge,  overthrown 
slavery,  made  constant  conquests  over  nature,  and  built 

103 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

up  a  wonderful  material  prosperity.  But  two  things  are 
wanting  in  American  civilization — a  keener  and  deeper, 
broader  and  tenderer  sense  of  justice — a  sense  of  human 
ity,  which  shall  crystallize  into  the  life  of  the  nation  the 
sentiment  that  justice,  simple  justice,  is  the  right,  not 
simply  of  the  strong  and  powerful,  but  of  the  weakest 
and  feeblest  of  all  God's  children;  a  deeper  and  broader 
humanity,  which  will  teach  men  to  look  upon  their  feeble 
brethren  not  as  vermin  to  be  crushed  out,  or  beasts  of 
burden  to  be  bridled  and  bitted,  but  as  the  children  of  the 
living  God;  of  that  God  whom  we  may  earnestly  hope  is 
in  perfect  wisdom  and  in  perfect  love  working  for  the 
best  good  of  all.  Ethnologists  may  differ  about  the  origin 
of  the  human  race.  Huxley  may  search  for  it  in  pro 
toplasms,  and  Darwin  send  for  the  missing  links,  but 
there  is  one  thing  of  which  we  may  rest  assured, — that 
we  all  come  from  the  living  God  and  that  He  is  the  com 
mon  Father.  The  nation  that  has  no  reverence  for  man 
is  also  lacking  in  reverence  for  God  and  needs  to  be 
instructed. 

As  fellow  citizens,  leaving  out  all  humanitarian  views 
— as  a  mere  matter  of  political  economy  it  is  better  to 
have  the  colored  race  a  living  force  animated  and  strength 
ened  by  self-reliance  and  self-respect,  than  a  stagnant 
mass,  degraded  and  self-condemned.  Instead  of  the 
North  relaxing  its  efforts  to  diffuse  education  in  the  South, 
it  behooves  us  for  our  national  life,  to  throw  into  the  South 
all  the  healthful  reconstructing  influences  we  can  com 
mand.  Our  work  in  this  country  is  grandly  constructive. 
Some  races  have  come  into  this  world  and  overthrown 

104 


FRANCES  E.  W.  HARPER 

and  destroyed.  But  if  it  is  glory  to  destroy,  it  is  happiness 
to  save;  and  Oh!  what  a  noble  work  there  is  before  our 
nation!  Where  is  there  a  young  man  who  would  consent 
to  lead  an  aimless  life  when  there  are  such  glorious  oppor 
tunities  before  him?  Before  our  young  men  is  another 
battle — not  a  battle  of  flashing  swords  and  clashing  steel — 
but  a  moral  warfare,  a  battle  against  ignorance,  poverty, 
and  low  social  condition.  In  physical  warfare  the  keenest 
swords  may  be  blunted  and  the  loudest  batteries  hushed; 
but  in  the  great  conflict  of  moral  and  spiritual  progress 
your  weapons  shall  be  brighter  for  their  service  and  better 
for  their  use.  In  fighting  truly  and  nobly  for  others  you 
win  the  victory  for  yourselves. 

Give  power  and  significance  to  your  own  life,  and  in 
the  great  work  of  upbuilding  there  is  room  for  woman's 
work  and  woman's  heart.  Oh,  that  our  hearts  were  alive 
and  our  vision  quickened,  to  see  the  grandeur  of  the  work 
that  lies  before.  We  have  some  culture  among  us,  but  I 
think  our  culture  lacks  enthusiasm.  We  need  a  deep 
earnestness  and  a  lofty  unselfishness  to  round  out  our 
lives.  It  is  the  inner  life  that  develops  the  outer,  and  if 
we  are  in  earnest  the  precious  things  lie  all  around  our 
feet,  and  we  need  not  waste  our  strength  in  striving  after 
the  dun  and  unattainable.  Women,  in  your  golden 
youth;  mother,  binding  around  your  heart  all  the  precious 
ties  of  life, — let  no  magnificence  of  culture,  or  amplitude 
of  fortune,  or  refinement  of  sensibilities,  repel  you  from 
helping  the  weaker  and  less  favored.  If  you  have  ampler 
gifts,  hold  them  as  larger  opportunities  with  which  you 
can  benefit  others.  Oh,  it  is  better  to  feel  that  the  weaker 

105 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  feebler  our  race  the  closer  we  will  cling  to  them,  than 
it  is  to  isolate  ourselves  from  them  in  selfish,  or  careless 
unconcern,  saying  there  is  a  lion  without.  Inviting  you 
to  this  work  I  do  not  promise  you  fair  sailing  and  un 
clouded  skies.  You  may  meet  with  coolness  where  you 
expect  sympathy;  disappointment  where  you  feel  sure  of 
success;  isolation  and  loneliness  instead  of  heart-support 
and  cooperation.  But  if  your  lives  are  based  and  built 
upon  these  divine  certitudes,  which  are  the  only  enduring 
strength  of  humanity,  then  whatever  defeat  and  discom 
fiture  may  overshadow  your  plans  or  frustrate  your 
schemes,  for  a  life  that  is  in  harmony  with  God  and 
sympathy  for  man  there  is  no  such  word  as  fail.  And  in 
conclusion,  permit  me  to  say,  let  no  misfortunes  crush 
you;  no  hostility  of  enemies  or  failure  of  friends  discourage 
you.  Apparent  failure  may  hold  in  its  rough  shell  the 
germs  of  a  success  that  will  blossom  in  time,  and  bear 
fruit  throughout  eternity.  What  seemed  to  be  a  failure 
around  the  Cross  of  Calvary  and  in  the  garden  has  been 
the  grandest  recorded  success. 


106 


A  MEMORIAL  DISCOURSE* 
By  REV.  HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET,  who  at  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  this  speech 
was  in  charge  of  the  Fifteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
was  one  of  the  foremost  figures  in  the  great  anti-slavery  movement  in  New  York. 
He  was  the  first  colored  man  to  speak  in  the  National  Capitol. 

Matthew  xxiii-4.  "For  they  bind  heavy  burdens,  and  greivous  to  be  borne,  and  lay 
them  on  men's  shoulders,  but  they  themselves  will  not  move  them  with  one  of  their 
fingers." 

In  this  chapter,  of  which  my  text  is  a  sentence,  the 
Lord  Jesus  addressed  his  disciples,  and  the  multitude 
that  hung  spell-bound  upon  the  words  that  fell  from  his 
lips.  He  admonished  them  to  beware  of  the  religion  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  was  distinguished  for 
great  professions,  while  it  succeeded  in  urging  them  to  do 
but  a  little,  or  nothing  that  accorded  with  the  law  of 
righteousness. 

In  theory  they  were  right;  but  their  practices  were  in 
consistent  and  wrong.  They  were  learned  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  in  the  traditions  of  their  fathers,  but  the 
principles  of  righteousness  failed  to  affect  their  hearts. 
They  knew  then*  duty  but  did  it  not.  The  demands 
which  they  made  upon  others  proved  that  they  them 
selves  knew  what  things  men  ought  to  do.  In  condemn- 

*Delivered  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D. 
C,  at  the  request  of  the  Chaplain.  Rev.  William  H.  Channing. 

107 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ing  others  they  pronounced  themselves  guilty.  They 
demanded  that  others  should  be  just,  merciful,  pure, 
peaceable,  and  righteous.  But  they  were  unjust,  im 
pure,  unmerciful — they  hated  and  wronged  a  portion  of 
their  fellowmen,  and  waged  a  continual  war  against  the 

government  of  God. 

*    #    *    *    * 

Such  was  their  conduct  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State. 
We  have  modern  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  are  faithful 
to  their  prototypes  of  ancient  times. 

With  sincere  respect  and  reverence  for  the  instruction, 
and  the  warning  given  by  our  Lord,  and  in  humble 
dependence  upon  him  for  his  assistance,  I  shall  speak  this 
morning  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  our  times  who 
rule  the  State.  In  discharging  this  duty,  I  shall  keep  my 
eyes  upon  the  picture  which  is  painted  so  faithfully  and 
life-like  by  the  hand  of  the  Saviour. 

Allow  me  to  describe  them.  They  are  intelligent  and 
well-informed,  and  can  never  say,  either  before  an  earthly 
tribunal  or  at  the  bar  of  God,  "  We  knew  not  of  ourselves 
what  was  right. "  They  are  acquainted  with  the  principles 
of  the  law  of  nations.  They  are  proficient  in  the  knowl 
edge  of  Constitutional  law.  They  are  teachers  of  common 
law,  and  frame  and  execute  statute  law.  They  acknowl 
edge  that  there  is  a  just  and  impartial  God,  and  are  not 
altogether  unacquainted  with  the  law  of  Christian  love 
and  kindness.  They  claim  for  themselves  the  broadest 
freedom.  Boastfully  they  tell  us  that  they  have  received 
from  the  court  of  heaven  the  Magna  Charta  of  human 
rights  that  was  handed  down  through  the  clouds,  and 

108 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

amid  the  lightnings  of  Sinai,  and  given  again  by  the  Son  of 
God  on  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  while  the  glory  of  the 
Father  shone  around  him.  They  tell  us  that  from  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  they 
have  obtained  a  guaranty  of  their  political  freedom,  and 
from  the  Bible  they  derive  their  claim  to  all  the  blessings 
of  religious  liberty.  With  just  pride  they  tell  us  that  they 
are  descended  from  the  Pilgrims,  who  threw  themselves 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  treacherous  sea,  and  braved  storms 
and  tempests,  that  they  might  find  in  a  strange  land,  and 
among  savages,  free  homes,  where  they  might  build  their 
altars  that  should  blaze  with  acceptable  sacrifice  unto 
God.  Yes!  they  boast  that  their  fathers  heroically 
turned  away  from  the  precious  light  of  Eastern  civiliza 
tion,  and  taking  their  lamps  with  oil  in  their  vessels, 
joyfully  went  forth  to  illuminate  this  land,  that  then  dwelt 
in  the  darkness  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  With 
hearts  strengthened  by  faith  they  spread  out  their  stand 
ard  to  the  winds  of  heaven,  near  Plymouth  rock;  and 
whether  it  was  stiffened  in  the  sleet  and  frosts  of  winter, 
or  floated  on  the  breeze  of  summer,  it  ever  bore  the  motto, 
"Freedom  to  worship  God." 

But  others,  their  fellow-men,  equal  before  the  Al 
mighty,  and  made  by  him  of  the  same  blood,  and  glowing 
with  immortality,  they  doom  to  life-long  servitude  and 
chains.  Yes,  they  stand  in  the  most  sacred  places  on 
earth,  and  beneath  the  gaze  of  the  piercing  eye  of  Jehovah, 
the  universal  Father  of  all  men,  and  declare,  "that  the 
best  possible  condition  of  the  Negro  is  slavery. " 

In  the  name  of  the  Triune  God  I  denounce  the  sen- 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

timent  as  unrighteous  beyond  measure,  and  the  holy  and 
the  just  of  the  whole  earth  say  in  regard  to  it,  Anathema- 
maranatha. 

What  is  slavery?  Too  well  do  I  know  what  it  is.  I 
will  present  to  you  a  bird's-eye  view  of  it;  and  it  shall  be 
no  fancy  picture,  but  one  that  is  sketched  by  painful 
experience.  I  was  born  among  the  cherished  institutions 
of  slavery.  My  earliest  recollections  of  parents,  friends, 
and  the  home  of  my  childhood  are  clouded  with  its  wrongs. 
The  first  sight  that  met  my  eyes  was  a  Christian  mother 
enslaved  by  professed  Christians,  but,  thank  God,  now 
a  saint  in  heaven.  The  first  sounds  that  startled  my  ear, 
and  sent  a  shudder  through  my  soul,  were  the  cracking 
of  the  whip  and  the  clanking  of  chains.  These  sad 
memories  mar  the  beauties  of  my  native  shores,  and 
darken  all  the  slave-land,  which,  but  for  the  reign  of 
despotism,  had  been  a  paradise.  But  those  shores  are 
fairer  now.  The  mists  have  left  my  native  valleys,  and 
the  clouds  have  rolled  away  from  the  hills,  and  Maryland, 
the  unhonored  grave  of  my  fathers,  is  now  the  free  home 
of  their  liberated  and  happier  children. 

Let  us  view  this  demon,  which  the  people  have  wor 
shiped  as  a  God.  Come  forth,  thou  grim  monster,  that 
thou  mayest  be  critically  examined!  There  he  stands. 
Behold  him,  one  and  all.  Its  work  is  to  chattelize  man; 
to  hold  property  in  human  beings.  Great  God !  I  would 
as  soon  attempt  to  enslave  Gabriel  or  Michael  as  to 
enslave  a  man  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  for  whom 
Christ  died.  Slavery  is  snatching  man  from  the  high 
place  to  which  he  was  lifted  by  the  hand  of  God,  and  drag- 
no 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

ging  him  down  to  the  level  of  the  brute  creation,  where  he 
is  made  to  be  the  companion  of  the  horse  and  the  fellow  of 
the  ox. 

It  tears  the  crown  of  glory  from  his  head,  and  as  far 
as  possible  obliterates  the  image  of  God  that  is  in  him. 
Slavery  preys  upon  man,  and  man  only.  A  brute  cannot 
be  made  a  slave.  Why?  Because  a  brute  has  not  reason, 
faith,  nor  an  undying  spirit,  nor  conscience.  It  does  not 
look  forward  to  the  future  with  joy  or  fear,  nor  reflect 
upon  the  past  with  satisfaction  or  regret.  But  who  in 
this  vast  assembly,  who  in  all  this  broad  land,  will  say 
that  the  poorest  and  most  unhappy  brother  in  chains  and 
servitude  has  not  every  one  of  these  high  endowments? 
Who  denies  it?  Is  there  one?  If  so,  let  him  speak.  There 
is  not  one;  no,  not  one. 

But  slavery  attempts  to  make  a  man  a  brute.  It  treats 
him  as  a  beast.  Its  terrible  work  is  not  finished  until  the 
ruined  victim  of  its  lusts,  and  pride,  and  avarice,  and 
hatred,  is  reduced  so  low  that  with  tearful  eyes  and  feeble 
voice  he  faintly  cries,  "I  am  happy  and  contented — I  love 
this  condition. " 

"Proud  Nimrod  first  the  bloody  chase  began, 
A  mighty  hunter  he;  his  prey  was  man." 

The  caged  lion  may  cease  to  roar,  and  try  no  longer 
the  strength  of  the  bars  of  his  prison,  and  lie  with  his  head 
between  his  mighty  paws  and  snuff  the  polluted  air  as 
though  he  heeded  not.  But  is  he  contented?  Does  he 
not  instinctively  long  for  the  freedom  of  the  forest  and  the 
plain?  Yes,  he  is  a  lion  still.  Our  poor  and  forlorn 
brother  whom  thou  hast  labelled  "slave,"  is  also  a  man. 

ill 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

He  may  be  unfortunate,  weak,  helpless,  and  despised,  and 
hated,  nevertheless  he  is  a  man.  His  God  and  thine  has 
stamped  on  his  forehead  his  title  to  his  inalienable  rights 
in  characters  that  can  be  read  by  every  intelligent  being. 
Pitiless  storms  of  outrage  may  have  beaten  upon  his  de 
fenseless  head  and  he  may  have  descended  through  ages 
of  oppression,  yet  he  is  a  man.  God  made  him  such, 
and  his  brother  cannot  unmake  him.  Woe,  woe  to  him 
who  attempts  to  commit  the  accursed  crime. 

Slavery  commenced  its  dreadful  work  in  kidnapping 
unoffending  men  in  a  foreign  and  distant  land,  and  in 
piracy  on  the  seas.  The  plunderers  were  not  the  fol 
lowers  of  Mahomet,  nor  the  devotees  of  Hindooism,  nor 
benighted  pagans,  nor  idolaters,  but  people  called  Chris 
tians,  and  thus  the  ruthless  traders  in  the  souls  and  bodies 
of  men  fastened  upon  Christianity  a  crime  and  stain  at  the 
sight  of  which  it  shudders  and  shrieks. 

It  is  guilty  of  the  most  heinous  iniquities  ever  per 
petrated  upon  helpless  women  and  innocent  children. 
Go  to  the  shores  of  the  land  of  my  forefathers,  poor  bleed 
ing  Africa,  which,  although  she  has  been  bereaved,  and 
robbed  for  centuries,  is  nevertheless  beloved  by  all  her 
worthy  descendants  wherever  dispersed.  Behold  a  single 
scene  that  there  meets  your  eyes.  Turn  not  away  neither 
from  shame,  pity,  nor  indifference,  but  look  and  see  the 
beginning  of  this  cherished  and  petted  institution.  Be 
hold  a  hundred  youthful  mothers  seated  on  the  ground, 
dropping  then*  tears  upon  the  hot  sands,  and  filling  the 
air  with  their  lamentations. 

Why  do  they  weep?    Ah,  Lord  God,  thou  knowest! 

112 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

Their  babes  have  been  torn  from  their  bosoms  and  cast 
upon  the  plains  to  die  of  hunger,  or  to  be  devoured  by 
hyenas  or  jackals.  The  little  innocents  would  die  on  the 
"  Middle  Passage, "  or  suffocate  between  the  decks  of  the 
floating  slave-pen,  freighted  and  packed  with  unparalleled 
human  woe,  and  the  slavers  in  mercy  have  cast  them  out 
to  perish  on  their  native  shores.  Such  is  the  beginning, 
and  no  less  wicked  is  the  end  of  that  system  which  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  in  the  Church  and  the  State  pronounce  to 
be  just,  humane,  benevolent  and  Christian.  If  such  are 
the  deeds  of  mercy  wrought  by  angels,  then  tell  me  what 
works  of  iniquity  there  remain  for  devils  to  do? 
***** 

It  is  the  highly  concentrated  essence  of  all  conceivable 
wickedness.  Theft,  robbery,  pollution,  unbridled  passion, 
incest,  cruelty,  cold-blooded  murder,  blasphemy,  and 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  God.  It  teaches  children  to  dis 
regard  parental  authority.  It  tears  down  the  marriage 
altar,  and  tramples  its  sacred  ashes  under  its  feet.  It 
creates  and  nourishes  polygamy.  It  feeds  and  pampers 
its  hateful  handmaid,  prejudice. 

It  has  divided  our  national  councils.  It  has  engen 
dered  deadly  strife  between  brethren.  It  has  wasted  the 
treasure  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  lives  of  thousands 
of  brave  men,  and  driven  troops  of  helpless  women  and 
children  into  yawning  tombs.  It  has  caused  the  bloodiest 
civil  war  recorded  in  the  book  of  time.  It  has  shorn  this 
nation  of  its  locks  of  strength  that  was  rising  as  a  young 
lion  in  the  Western  world.  It  has  offered  us  as  a  sacrifice 
to  the  jealousy  and  cupidity  of  tyrants,  despots,  and 

113 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

adventurers  of  foreign  countries.  It  has  opened  a  door 
through  which  a  usurper,  a  perjured,  but  a  powerful 
prince,  might  stealthily  enter  and  build  an  empire  on  the 
golden  borders  of  our  southwestern  frontier,  and  which 
is  but  a  stepping-stone  to  further  and  unlimited  conquests 
on  this  continent.  It  has  desolated  the  fairest  portions 
of  our  land,  "until  the  wolf  long  since  driven  back  by  the 
march  of  civilization  returns  after  the  lapse  of  a  hundred 
years  and  howls  amidst  its  ruins. " 

It  seals  up  the  Bible,  and  mutilates  its  sacred  truths, 
and  flies  into  the  face  of  the  Almighty,  and  impiously  asks, 
"Who  art  thou  that  I  should  obey  thee?"  Such  are  the 
outlines  of  this  fearful  national  sin:  and  yet  the  condition 
to  which  it  reduces  man,  it  is  affirmed,  is  the  best  that  can 
possibly  be  devised  for  him. 

When  inconsistencies  similar  in  character,  and  no 
more  glaring,  passed  beneath  the  eye  of  the  Son  of  God, 
no  wonder  he  broke  forth  in  language  of  vehement  denun 
ciation.  Ye  Scribes,  Pharisees,  and  hypocrites !  Ye  blind 
guides!  Ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, 
and  when  he  is  made  ye  make  him  twofold  more  the  child 
of  hell  than  yourselves.  Ye  are  like  unto  whited  sepul 
chres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful  without,  but  within 
are  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  all  uncleanness! 

Let  us  here  take  up  the  golden  rule,  and  adopt  the 
self-application  mode  of  reasoning  to  those  who  hold 
these  erroneous  views.  Come,  gird  up  thy  loins  and 
answer  like  a  man,  if  thou  canst.  Is  slavery,  as  it  is  seen 
in  its  origin,  continuance,  and  end  the  best  possible  condi 
tion  for  thee?  Oh,  no!  Wilt  thou  bear  that  burden  on 

114 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

thy  shoulders,  which  thou  wouldest  lay  upon  thy  fellow- 
man?  No.  Wilt  thou  bear  a  part  of  it,  or  remove  a  little 
of  its  weight  with  one  of  thy  fingers?  The  sharp  and 
indignant  answer  is  no,  no!  Then  how,  and  when,  and 
where,  shall  we  apply  to  thee  the  golden  rule,  which  says, 
"Therefore  all  things  that  ye  would  that  others  should  do 
to  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them,  for  this  is  the  law  and  the 
prophets. " 

Let  us  have  the  testimony  of  the  wise  and  great  of 
ancient  and  modern  times: 

"Sages  who  wrote  and  warriors  who  bled." 

Plato  declared  that  "  Slavery  is  a  system  of  complete 
injustice. " 

Socrates  wrote  that  "Slavery  is  a  system  of  outrage 
and  robbery. " 

Cyrus  said,  "To  fight  in  order  not  to  be  a  slave  is 
noble." 

If  Cyrus  had  lived  in  our  land  a  few  years  ago  he 
would  have  been  arrested  for  using  incendiary  language, 
and  for  inciting  servile  insurrection,  and  the  royal  fanatic 
would  have  been  hanged  on  a  gallows  higher  than  Haman. 
But  every  man  is  fanatical  when  his  soul  is  warmed  by  the 
generous  fires  of  liberty.  Is  it  then  truly  noble  to  fight  in 
order  not  to  be  a  slave?  The  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
nation,  and  our  rulers,  and  all  truly  patriotic  men  think 
so;  and  so  think  legions  of  black  men,  who  for  a  season 
were  scorned  and  rejected,  but  who  came  quickly  and 
cheerfully  when  they  were  at  last  invited,  bearing  a  heavy 
burden  of  proscriptions  upon  their  shoulders,  and  having 

115 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

faith  in  God,  and  in  their  generous  fellow-countrymen, 
they  went  forth  to  fight  a  double  battle.  The  foes  of 
their  country  were  before  them,  while  the  enemies  of 
freedom  and  of  their  race  surrounded  them. 

Augustine,  Constantine,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Maximus, 
and  the  most  illustrious  lights  of  the  ancient  church 
denounced  the  sin  of  slave-holding. 

Thomas  Jefferson  said  at  a  period  of  his  life,  when  his 
judgment  was  matured,  and  his  experience  was  ripe, 
"  There  is  preparing,  I  hope,  under  the  auspices  of  heaven, 
a  way  for  a  total  emancipation. " 

The  sainted  Washington  said,  near  the  close  of  his 
moral  career,  and  when  the  light  of  eternity  was  beaming 
upon  him,  "It  is  among  my  first  wishes  to  see  some  plan 
adopted  by  which  slavery  in  this  country  shall  be  abol 
ished  by  law.  I  know  of  but  one  way  by  which  this  can  be 
done,  and  that  is  by  legislative  action,  and  so  far  as  my 
vote  can  go,  it  shall  not  be  wanting. " 

The  other  day,  when  the  light  of  Liberty  streamed 
through  this  marble  pile,  and  the  hearts  of  the  noble  band 
of  patriotic  statesmen  leaped  for  joy,  and  this  our  national 
capitol  shook  from  foundation  to  dome  with  the  shouts  of 
a  ransomed  people,  then  methinks  the  spirits  of  Washing 
ton,  Jefferson,  the  Jays,  the  Adamses,  and  Franklin,  and 
Lafayette,  and  Giddings,  and  Lovejoy,  and  those  of  all 
the  mighty,  and  glorious  dead,  remembered  by  history, 
because  they  were  faithful  to  truth,  justice,  and  liberty, 
were  hovering  over  the  august  assembly.  Though  unseen 
by  mortal  eyes,  doubtless  they  joined  the  angelic  choir, 
and  said,  Amen. 

116 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

Pope  Leo  X.  testifies,  "That  not  only  does  the  Chris 
tian  religion,  but  nature  herself,  cry  out  against  a  state  of 
slavery. " 

Patrick  Henry  said,  "We  should  transmit  to  posterity 
our  abhorrence  of  slavery. "  So  also  thought  the  Thirty- 
Eighth  Congress 

Lafayette  proclaimed  these  words:  "Slavery  is  a 
dark  spot  on  the  face  of  the  nation. "  God  be  praised, 
that  stain  will  soon  be  wiped  out. 

Jonathan  Edwards  declared  "that  to  hold  a  man  in 
slavery  is  to  be  every  day  guilty  of  robbery,  or  of  man 
stealing. " 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing,  in  a  Letter  on  the 
Annexation  of  Texas  in  1837,  writes  as  follows:  "The 
evil  of  slavery  speaks  for  itself.  To  state  is  to  con 
demn  the  institution.  The  choice  which  every  freeman 
makes  of  death  for  his  child  and  for  every  thing  he 
loves  in  preference  to  slavery  shows  what  it  is.  *  *  * 
"Every  principle  of  our  government  and  religion  con 
demns  slavery.  The  spirit  of  our  age  condemns  it.  The 
decree  of  the  civilized  world  has  gone  out  against  it." 
***** 

Moses,  the  greatest  of  all  lawgivers  and  legislators, 
said,  while  his  face  was  yet  radiant  with  the  light  of 
Sinai:  "Whoso  stealeth  a  man,  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he 
be  found  in  his  hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death. " 
The  destroying  angel  has  gone  forth  through  this  land  to 
execute  the  fearful  penalties  of  God's  broken  law. 

The  representatives  of  the  nation  have  bowed  with 
reverence  to  the  Divine  edict,  and  laid  the  axe  at  the  root 

117 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  the  tree,  and  thus  saved  succeeding  generations  from 
the  guilt  of  oppression,  and  from  the  wrath  of  God. 

Statesmen,  jurists,  and  philosophers,  most  renowned 
for  learning,  and  most  profound  in  every  department  of 
science  and  literature,  have  testified  against  slavery; 
while  oratory  has  brought  its  costliest,  golden  treasures, 
and  laid  them  on  the  altar  of  God  and  of  freedom,  it  has 
aimed  its  fiercest  lightning  and  loudest  thunder  at  the 
strongholds  of  tyranny,  injustice,  and  despotism. 

From  the  days  of  Balak  to  those  of  Isaiah  and  Jere 
miah,  up  to  the  tunes  of  Paul,  and  through  every  age  of 
the  Christian  Church,  the  sons  of  thunder  have  denounced 
the  abominable  thing.  The  heroes  who  stood  in  the  shining 
ranks  of  the  hosts  of  the  friends  of  human  progress,  from 
Cicero  to  Chatham,  and  Burke,  Sharp,  Wilberforce,  and 
Thomas  Clarkson,  and  Curran,  assaulted  the  citadel  of 
despotism.  The  orators  and  statesmen  of  our  own  land, 
whether  they  belong  to  the  past,  or  to  the  present  age, 
will  live  and  shine  in  the  annals  of  history,  in  proportion 
as  they  have  dedicated  their  genius  and  talents  to  the 
defence  of  Justice  and  man's  God-given  rights. 

All  the  poets  who  live  in  sacred  and  profane  history 
have  charmed  the  world  with  their  most  enchanting 
strains,  when  they  have  tuned  their  lyres  to  the  praise  of 
Liberty.  When  the  muses  can  no  longer  decorate  her 
altars  with  their  garlands,  then  they  hang  their  harps  upon 
the  willows  and  weep. 

From  Moses  to  Terence  and  Homer,  from  thence  to 
Milton  and  Cowper,  Thomson  and  Thomas  Campbell, 
and  on  to  the  days  of  our  own  bards,  our  Bryants,  Long- 

118 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

fellows,  Whittiers,  Morrises,  and  Bokers,  all  have 
presented  their  best  gifts  to  the  interests  and  rights  of 
man. 

Every  good  principle,  and  every  great  and  noble 
power,  have  been  made  the  subjects  of  the  inspired  verse, 
and  the  songs  of  poets.  But  who  of  them  has  attempted 
to  immortalize  slavery?  You  will  search  in  vain  the 
annals  of  the  world  to  find  an  instance.  Should  any 
attempt  the  sacrilegious  work,  his  genius  would  fall  to  the 
earth  as  if  smitten  by  the  lightning  of  heaven.  Should  he 
lift  his  hand  to  write  a  line  in  its  praise,  or  defence,  the 
ink  would  freeze  on  the  point  of  his  pen. 

Could  we  array  in  one  line,  representatives  of  all  the 
families  of  men,  beginning  with  those  lowest  in  the  scale 
of  being,  and  should  we  put  to  them  the  question,  Is  it 
right  and  desirable  that  you  should  be  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  slaves,  to  be  registered  with  chattels,  to  have 
your  persons,  and  your  lives,  and  the  products  of  your 
labor,  subjected  to  the  will  and  the  interests  of  others? 
Is  it  right  and  just  that  the  persons  of  your  wives  and 
children  should  be  at  the  disposal  of  others,  and  be  yielded 
to  them  for  the  purpose  of  pampering  their  lusts  and  greed 
of  gain?  Is  it  right  to  lay  heavy  burdens  on  other  men's 
shoulders  which  you  would  not  remove  with  one  of  your 
fingers?  From  the  rude  savage  and  barbarian  the 
negative  response  would  come,  increasing  in  power  and 
significance  as  it  rolled  up  the  line.  And  when  those 
should  reply,  whose  minds  and  hearts  are  illuminated 
with  the  highest  civilization  and  with  the  spirit  of  Chris- 

119 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

tianity,  the  answer  deep-toned  and  prolonged  would 
thunder  forth,  no,  no! 

With  all  the  moral  attributes  of  God  on  our  side, 
cheered  as  we  are  by  the  voices  of  universal  human  nature, 
— in  view  of  the  best  interests  of  the  present  and  future 
generations — animated  with  the  noble  desire  to  furnish 
the  nations  of  the  earth  with  a  worthy  example,  let  the 
verdict  of  death  which  has  been  brought  in  against 
slavery,  by  the  Thirty-Eighth  Congress,  be  affirmed  and 
executed  by  the  people.  Let  the  gigantic  monster  perish. 
Yes,  perish  now,  and  perish  forever! 

It  is  often  asked  when  and  where  will  the  demands  of 
the  reformers  of  this  and  coming  ages  end?  It  is  a  fair 
question,  and  I  will  answer. 

When  all  unjust  and  heavy  burdens  shall  be  removed 
from  every  man  in  the  land.  When  all  invidious  and 
prescriptive  distinctions  shall  be  blotted  out  from  our 
laws,  whether  they  be  constitutional,  statute,  or  municipal 
laws.  When  emancipation  shall  be  followed  by  enfran 
chisement,  and  all  men  holding  allegiance  to  the  govern 
ment  shall  enjoy  every  right  of  American  citizenship. 
When  our  brave  and  gallant  soldiers  shall  have  justice 
done  unto  them.  When  the  men  who  endure  the  suffer 
ings  and  perils  of  the  battle-field  in  the  defence  of  their 
country,  and  in  order  to  keep  our  rulers  in  their  places, 
shall  enjoy  the  well-earned  privilege  of  voting  for  them. 
When  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  in  every  legitimate  and 
honorable  occupation,  promotion  shall  smile  upon  merit 
without  the  slightest  regard  to  the  complexion  of  a  man's 
face.  When  there  shall  be  no  more  class-legislation,  and 

120 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

no  more  trouble  concerning  the  black  man  and  his  rights, 
than  there  is  in  regard  to  other  American  citizens.  When, 
in  every  respect,  he  shall  be  equal  before  the  law,  and  shall 
be  left  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  social  walks  of  life. 
We  ask,  and  only  ask,  that  when  our  poor  frail  barks 
are  launched  on  life's  ocean — 

"Bound  on  a  voyage  of  awful  length 
And  dangers  little  known," 

that,  in  common  with  others,  we  may  be  furnished  with 
rudder,  helm,  and  sails,  and  charts,  and  compass.  Give 
us  good  pilots  to  conduct  us  to  the  open  seas;  lift  no  false 
lights  along  the  dangerous  coasts,  and  if  it  shall  please  God 
to  send  us  propitious  winds,  or  fearful  gales,  we  shall 
survive  or  perish  as  our  energies  or  neglect  shall  deter 
mine.  We  ask  no  special  favors,  but  we  plead  for  justice. 
While  we  scorn  unmanly  dependence;  in  the  name  of  God, 
the  universal  Father,  we  demand  the  right  to  live,  and 
labor,  and  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  our  toil.  The  good  work 
which  God  has  assigned  for  the  ages  to  come,  will  be 
finished,  when  our  national  literature  shall  be  so  purified 
as  to  reflect  a  faithful  and  a  just  light  upon  the  character 
and  social  habits  of  our  race,  and  the  brush,  and  pencil, 
and  chisel,  and  lyre  of  art,  shall  refuse  to  lend  their  aid  to 
scoff  at  the  afflictions  of  the  poor,  or  to  caricature,  or 
ridicule  a  long-suffering  people.  When  caste  and  prej 
udice  in  Christian  churches  shall  be  utterly  destroyed, 
and  shall  be  regarded  as  totally  unworthy  of  Christians, 
and  at  variance  with  the  principles  of  the  gospel.  When 
the  blessings  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  sound, 

121 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

religious  education,  shall  be  freely  offered  to  all,  then,  and 
not  till  then,  shall  the  effectual  labors  of  God's  people  and 
God's  instruments  cease. 

If  slavery  has  been  destroyed  merely  from  necessity, 
let  every  class  be  enfranchised  at  the  dictation  of  justice. 
Then  we  shall  have  a  Constitution  that  shall  be  rev 
erenced  by  all:  rulers  who  shall  be  honored,  and  revered, 
and  a  Union  that  shall  be  sincerely  loved  by  a  brave  and 
patriotic  people,  and  which  can  never  be  severed. 

Great  sacrifices  have  been  made  by  the  people;  yet, 
greater  still  are  demanded  ere  atonement  can  be  made 
for  our  national  sins.  Eternal  justice  holds  heavy  mort 
gages  against  us,  and  will  require  the  payment  of  the  last 
farthing.  We  have  involved  ourselves  in  the  sin  of 
unrighteous  gain,  stimulated  by  luxury,  and  pride,  and 
the  love  of  power  and  oppression;  and  prosperity  and 
peace  can  be  purchased  only  by  blood,  and  with  tears  of 
repentance.  We  have  paid  some  of  the  fearful  install 
ments,  but  there  are  other  heavy  obligations  to  be  met. 

The  great  day  of  the  nation's  judgment  has  come, 
and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand?  Even  we,  whose  ances 
tors  have  suffered  the  afflictions  which  are  inseparable 
from  a  condition  of  slavery,  for  the  period  of  two  centuries 
and  a  half,  now  pity  our  land  and  weep  with  those  who 
weep. 

Upon  the  total  and  complete  destruction  of  this 
accursed  sin  depends  the  safety  and  perpetuity  of  our 
Republic  and  its  excellent  institutions. 

Let  slavery  die.  It  has  had  a  long  and  fair  trial.  God 
himself  has  pleaded  against  it.  The  enlightened  nations 

122 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET 

of  the  earth  have  condemned  it.  Its  death  warrant  is 
signed  by  God  and  man.  Do  not  commute  its  sentence. 
Give  it  no  respite,  but  let  it  be  ignominiously  executed. 

Honorable  Senators  and  Representatives!  illustrious 
rulers  of  this  great  nation!  I  cannot  refrain  this  day  from 
invoking  upon  you,  in  God's  name,  the  blessings  of  mil 
lions  who  were  ready  to  perish,  but  to  whom  a  new  and 
better  life  has  been  opened  by  your  humanity,  justice, 
and  patriotism.  You  have  said,  "Let  the  Constitution 
of  the  country  be  so  amended  that  slavery  and  invol 
untary  servitude  shall  no  longer  exist  in  the  United 
States,  except  in  punishment  for  crime. "  Surely,  an  act  so 
sublime  could  not  escape  Divine  notice;  and  doubtless  the 
deed  has  been  recorded  in  the  archives  of  heaven.  Vol 
umes  may  be  appropriated  to  your  praise  and  renown  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Genius  and  art  may  perpetuate 
the  glorious  act  on  canvass  and  in  marble,  but  certain 
and  more  lasting  monuments  in  commemoration  of  your 
decision  are  already  erected  in  the  hearts  and  memories 
of  a  grateful  people. 

The  nation  has  begun  its  exodus  from  worse  than 
Egyptian  bondage;  and  I  beseech  you  that  you  say  to  the 
people,  "that  they  go  forward."  With  the  assurance  of 
God's  favor  in  all  things  done  in  obedience  to  his  righteous 
will,  and  guided  by  day  and  by  night  by  the  pillars  of 
cloud  and  fire,  let  us  not  pause  until  we  have  reached  the 
other  and  safe  side  of  the  stormy  and  crimson  sea.  Let 
freemen  and  patriots  mete  out  complete  and  equal  justice 
to  all  men,  and  thus  prove  to  mankind  the  superiority  of 
our  Democratic,  Republican  Government. 

123 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Favored  men,  and  honored  of  God  as  his  instruments, 
speedily  finish  the  work  which  he  has  given  you  to  do. 
Emancipate,  enfranchise,  educate,  and  give  the  blessings 
of  the  gospel  to  every  American  citizen. 

Then  before  us  a  path  of  prosperity  will  open,  and 
upon  us  will  descend  the  mercies  and  favors  of  God. 
Then  shall  the  people  of  other  countries,  who  are  standing 
tip-toe  on  the  shores  of  every  ocean,  earnestly  looking  to 
see  the  end  of  this  amazing  conflict,  behold  a  Republic 
that  is  sufficiently  strong  to  outlive  the  ruin  and  desola 
tions  of  civil  war,  having  the  magnanimity  to  do  justice 
to  the  poorest  and  weakest  of  her  citizens.  Thus  shall  we 
give  to  the  world  the  form  of  a  model  Republic,  founded 
on  the  principles  of  justice,  and  humanity,  and  Chris 
tianity,  in  which  the  burdens  of  war  and  the  blessings  of 
peace  are  equally  borne  and  enjoyed  by  all. 


124 


CRISPUS  ATTUCKS* 
BY  GEORGE  L.  RUFFIN 

GEORGE  L.  RUFFIN  (1834-1885)  the  first  Negro  judge  to  be  appointed  in 
Massachusetts,  graduated  in  Law  from  Harvard,  i86g.  He  served  in  the  legisla 
ture  of  Massachusetts  two  terms  y  and  in  the  Boston  Council  two  terms. 

The  fifth  of  March,  1770,  had  been  a  cold  day,  and 
a  slight  fall  of  snow  had  covered  the  ground,  but  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night  it  was  clear  and  cold,  not  a  cloud  to 
be  seen  in  the  sky,  and  the  moon  was  shining  brightly. 
A  British  guard  was  patrolling  the  streets  with  clanking 
swords  and  overbearing  swagger.  A  sentry  was  stationed 
in  Dock  Square.  A  party  of  young  men,  four  in  number, 
came  out  of  a  house  in  Cornhill.  One  of  the  soldier's  was 
whirling  his  sword  about  his  head,  striking  fire  with  it;  the 
sentry  challenged  one  of  the  four  young  men;  there  was  no 
good  blood  between  them,  and  it  took  but  little  to  start 
a  disturbance.  An  apprentice  boy  cried  out  to  one  of  the 
guards,  "You  haven't  paid  my  master  for  dressing 

your  hair!"     A  soldier  said,  "Where  are  the  d d 

Yankee  boogers,  I'll  kill  them!"  A  boy's  head  was  split, 
there  was  more  quarrelling  between  the  young  men  and 
the  guard,  great  noise  and  confusion;  a  vast  concourse  of 
excited  people  soon  collected ;  cries  >f  "  Kill  them !"  "  Drive 

*  Extracts  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Banneker  Literary  Club, 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  on  the  occasion  of  the  commemoration  of  the  :  Boston 
Massacre,"  March  7,  1876. 

125 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

them  out!"  "They  have  no  business  here!"  were  heard; 
some  citizens  were  knocked  down,  as  also  were  some 
soldiers.  Generally  speaking,  the  soldiers  got  the  worst 
of  it;  they  were  reinforced,  but  steadily  the  infuriated 
citizens  drove  them  back  until  they  were  forced  to  take 
refuge  in  the  Custom-House,  upon  the  steps  of  which 
they  were  pelted  with  snowballs  and  pieces  of  ice. 

By  this  time  the  whole  town  was  aroused;  exaggerated 
accounts  of  the  event  in  Dock  Square  flew  like  wildfire 
all  over  the  settlement;  the  people  turned  out  en  masse  in 
the  streets  and,  to  add  to  the  general  din,  the  bells  of 
the  town  were  rung.  The  regiment  which  held  the  town 
at  that  time  was  the  29th.  Captain  Preston  seemed  to 
have  been  in  command.  He  was  sent  for,  went  to  the 
Custom-House,  learned  what  had  occurred,  and  at  once  put 
troops  in  motion.  On  they  came  up  King  Street,  now 
State  Street,  with  fixed  bayonets,  clearing  everything 
before  them  as  they  came.  They  had  nearly  reached  the 
head  of  King  Street,  when  they  met  with  opposition.  A 
body  of  citizens  had  been  formed  nearby,  and  came  push 
ing  violently  through  the  street  then  called  Cornhill, 
around  into  King  Street.  They  were  armed  only  with 
clubs,  sticks,  and  pieces  of  ice,  but  on  they  came.  Nothing 
daunted,  they  went  up  to  the  points  of  the  soldiers' 
bayonets.  The  long  pent-up  feeling  of  resentment 
against  a  foreign  soldiery  was  finding  a  vent.  This  was 
the  time  and  the  opportunity  to  teach  tyrants  that  free 
men  can  at  least  strike  back,  though  for  the  time  they 
strike  in  vain. 

126 


GEORGE  L.  RUFFIN 

At  the  head  of  this  body  of  citizens  was  a  stalwart 
colored  man,  Crispus  Attucks.  He  was  the  leading 
spirit  of  their  body,  and  their  spokesman.  They  pressed 
the  British  sorely  on  all  sides,  making  the  best  use  of 
their  rude  arms,  crying,  "They  dare  not  strike!"  "Let 
us  drive  them  out!"  The  soldiers  stood  firm;  the  reach 
of  their  long  bayonets  protected  them  from  any  serious 
injury  for  a  while. 

From  time  to  time  Attucks'  voice  could  be  heard 
urging  his  companions  on.  Said  he,  "The  way  to  get 
rid  of  these  soldiers  is  to  attack  the  main  guard;  strike  at 
the  root !  This  is  the  nest !"  At  that  time  some  one  gave 
the  order  to  fire.  Captain  Preston  said  he  did  not;  at 
any  rate  the  order  was  given.  The  soldiers  fired.  It  was 
a  death  dealing  volley.  Of  the  citizens  three  lay  dead, 
two  mortally  wounded,  and  a  number  more  or  less  in 
jured.  Crispus  Attucks,  James  Caldwell,  and  Samuel 
Gray  were  killed  outright.  Attucks  fell,  his  face  to  the 
foe,  with  two  bullets  in  his  breast. 

That  night  closed  an  eventful  day.  The  first  martyr- 
blood  had  reddened  the  streets  of  Boston,  and  the  com 
mencement  of  the  downfall  of  British  rule  in  America 
had  set  in.  Said  Daniel  Webster,  "From  that  moment 
we  may  date  the  severance  of  the  British  Empire.  The 
patriotic  fires  kindled  in  the  breasts  of  those  earnest  and 
true  men,  upon  whose  necks  the  British  yoke  never  sat 
easily,  never  were  quenched  after  that  massacre,  until  the 
invader  had  been  driven  from  the  land  and  indepen 
dence  had  been  achieved.  The  sight  of  the  blood  of 
their  comrades  in  King  Street  quickened  their  impulses, 

127 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  hastened  the  day  for  a  more  general  outbreak, 
which  we  now  call  the  Revolutionary  War."  This  was  no 
mob,  as  some  have  been  disposed  to  call  it.  They  had 
not  the  low  and  groveling  spirit  which  usually  incites 
mobs.  This  was  resistance  to  tyranny;  this  was  striking 
for  homes  and  firesides;  this  was  the  noblest  work  which 
a  patriot  can  ever  perform.  As  well  call  Lexington  a 
mob  and  Bunker  Hill  a  mob.  I  prefer  to  call  this 
skirmish  in  King  Street  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  as 
Anson  Burlingame  called  it,  "The  dawn  of  the  Revolu 
tion." 

About  that  time  the  American  people  set  out  to  found 
a  government  to  be  dedicated  to  Freedom,  which  was 
to  remain  an  asylum  to  the  oppressed  of  all  lands  forever. 
The  central  idea  of  this  government  was  to  be  Liberty, 
and  a  declaration  was  made  by  them  to  the  world  that 
all  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  have  the  right 
to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  This  was 
the  government  to  be  established  in  the  land  which  had 
been  fought  for  and  won  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  blood  of 
both  black  and  white  men.  Did  they  do  it?  Did  they 
intend  to  do  it?  Did  they  believe  in  and  intend  to  carry 
out  this  magnificent  declaration  of  principles — a  decla 
ration  which  startled  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  and 
sent  a  thrill  of  delight  to  the  hearts  of  the  lovers  of  liberty 
through  Christendom?  No,  they  did  not  do  it,  neither 
did  they  intend  to  do  it!  This  manifesto  of  July  4,  1776, 
was  a  fraud  and  a  deception;  it  was  the  boldest  falsifica 
tion  known  to  history;  it  was  a  sham  and  a  lie.  Instead  of 
establishing  freedom,  they  built,  fostered  and  perpetuated 

128 


GEORGE  L.  RUFFIN 

slavery;  instead  of  equality,  they  gave  us  inequality; 
instead  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness, 
they  gave  us  death,  bondage,  and  misery;  instead  of 
rearing  on  these  shores  a  beautiful  temple  to  Liberty, 
they  made  a  foul  den  for  slavery;  and  this  country, 
which  should  have  been  the  garden-spot  of  the  world, 
covered  with  a  prosperous  and  happy  population  of 
freemen,  was,  under  the  guidance  of  traitors  to  Liberty, 
made  the  prison-house  of  slaves,  and  betrayed  in  the  house 
of  her  friends.  The  Goddess  of  Liberty,  for  nearly  one 
hundred  years  after  the  establishment  of  our  Government, 
sat  in  chains. 

Attucks  was  in  feelings,  sympathies,  and  in  all  other 
respects,  essentially  an  American,  and  so  were  the  other 
colored  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  and  why  shouldn't 
they  be?  They  were  born  and  bred  here,  and  knew  no 
other  country;  as  was  true  of  their  fathers.  They  had 
been  here  as  long  as  the  Puritans.  They  came  here  the 
same  year,  1620;  in  fact,  had  been  here  a  little  longer,  for 
while  Plymouth  Rock  was  only  reached  in  December  of 
that  year,  the  blacks  were  at  Jamestown  in  the  early 
spring.  In  every  difficulty  with  the  mother  country, 
the  colored  men  took  sides  with  the  colonists,  and  on  every 
battle-field,  when  danger  was  to  be  met,  they  were  found 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  rest  of  the  Republicans, 
sharing  the  burden  of  war.  At  Lexington,  where  the 
farmers  hastily  seized  their  muskets  and  gathered  on 
the  plain,  and  at  the  bridge,  to  resist  with  the  sacrifice 
of  their  lives  the  approach  of  the  British  forces,  Prince 
Estabrook,  "Negro  man"  as  the  Salem  Gazette  of  that  day 

129 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

called  him,  rallied  with  his  neighbors  and  comrades  in 
arms,  and  fell  on  the  field,  a  wounded  man,  fighting  the 
foe.  He,  like  Attucks,  was  both  of  and  with  the  people. 
Their  cause  was  his  cause,  their  home  was  his  home, 
their  fight  was  his  fight.  At  Bunker  Hill,  a  few  months 
later,  we  know  there  was  a  goodly  number  of  colored  men ; 
history  has  saved  to  us  the  names  of  some  of  them;  how 
many  there  were  whose  names  were  not  recorded,  of 
course,  we  cannot  now  tell.  Andover  sent  Tites  Coburn, 
Alexander  Ames,  and  Barzilai  Low;  Plymouth  sent  Cato 
Howe,  and  Peter  Salem  immortalized  his  name  by  leveling 
the  piece  in  that  battle  which  laid  low  Major  Pitcairn. 
It  is  fair  to  presume  that  other  towns,  like  Andover,  sent 
hi  the  ranks  of  their  volunteers  colored  Americans.  In 
the  town  of  Raynham,  within  forty  miles  of  Boston,  there 
is  now  a  settlement  of  colored  people  who  have  been  there 
for  three  or  four  generations,  the  founder  of  which,  Toby 
Gilmore,  was  an  old  Revolutionary  veteran  who  had 
served  his  country  faithfully.  Stoughton  Corner  con 
tributed  Quack  Matrick  to  the  ranks  of  the  Revolutionary 
soldiers;  Lancaster  sent  Job  Lewis,  East  Bridgewater 
Prince  Richards.  So  did  many  other  towns  and  States  in 
this  Commonwealth.  Rhode  Island  raised  a  regiment 
which  did  signal  service  at  Red  Bank  in  completely 
routing  the  Hessian  force  under  Colonel  Donop,  but  it 
was  not  in  distinctively  colored  regiments  or  companies 
that  colored  men  chiefly  fought  in  the  Revolution;  it  was 
in  the  ranks  of  any  and  all  regiments,  and  by  the  side  of 
their  white  companions  in  arms  they  were  mainly  to  be 
found. 

130 


GEORGE  L.  RUFFIN 

Attucks  was  born  not  a  great  way  from  Boston,  at 
Farmingham,  where  his  brothers  and  sisters  lived  for  a 
long  time.  At  some  time  during  his  life  he  was  a  slave  • 
whether  he  was  a  slave  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of 
the  events  I  am  now  relating  is  not  so  clear.  One  of  the 
witnesses  at  the  trial  of  the  soldiers  testified  that  Attucks 
'belonged  to  New  Providence,  and  was  here  on  his  way 
to  North  Carolina."  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  at  this 
time,  in  1770,  he  was  in  the  possession  of  his  liberty, 
having  got  it  in  the  same  manner  that  very  many  slaves 
since  obtained  their  freedom,  by  giving  "leg-bail." 
Nearly  twenty  years  before  he  had  run  away  from  his 
master,  as  appears  from  an  advertisement  in  the  Boston 
Gazette  of  November  20,  1750.  From  this  advertisement 
it  wou'd  appear  that  at  the  time  of  the  engagement  in 
King  Street,  Attucks  was  about  47  years  of  age,  a  power 
ful  man,  and  an  ugly  foe  to  encounter.  Twenty  years  of 
freedom,  and  moving  from  one  part  of  the  country  to 
the  other  as  far  away  as  North  Carolina,  must  have  en 
larged  his  views  and  given  him  the  spirit  of  a  free  man. 
That  he  partook  of  the  spirit  which  animated  those  of 
his  countrymen  who  would  throw  off  the  British  yoke  is 
shown  by  the  language  used  by  him  on  this  memorable 
occasion.  "Let  us  drive  out  the  rebels;  they  have  no 
business  here! "  said  he,  and  they  re-echoed  them.  These 
words  are  full  of  meaning;  they  tell  the  story  of  the  Rev 
olution. 

One  hundred  and  six  years  have  passed  away.  King 
Street  and  Royal  Exchange  Lane  have  lost  their  names. 
Cornhill  has  lost  its  identity.  The  King's  collectors  no 

131 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

longer  gather  at  the  Custom-House,  and  epauletted 
British  officers  no  longer  lounge  away  winter  evenings 
in  the  reading-room  of  Concert  Hall;  that  once  stately 
pile  is  no  more.  One  hundred  and  six  years  ago,  George 
the  Third  was  king,  and  these  colonies  were  British  de 
pendencies.  Since  that  time  marvelous  changes  have 
been  made  in  the  world's  history.  Probably  never  before 
have  so  many  and  so  great  changes  taken  place  in  the 
same  space  of  time.  Slavery  then  existed  in  Massa 
chusetts,  as  it  did  in  the  other  colonies.  It  grew  to  huge 
proportions,  and  dominated  all  other  interests  in  the 
land,  and  for  years  brought  shame  and  disgrace  upon  us 
But  our  country  now  stands  redeemed,  disenthralled. 
The  promises  of  1776  are  now  realized.  The  immortal 
heroes  of  that  age  did  not  die  in  vain.  We  have  now, 
thanks  to  the  Author  of  All  Good,  a  free  country,  a 
Republic  of  imperial  proportions,  a  domain  as  extensive 
and  a  government  as  powerful  as  that  of  the  nations  of 
antiquity,  or  of  the  present  time,  and  better  than  all 
over  all  this  broad  land  there  does  not  walk  a  slave. 
In  this  centennial  anniversary  of  the  nation's  existence  it 
is  quite  in  order  to  suggest,  and  I  do  suggest  that  a  monu 
ment  be  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  first  martyr  of 
the  Revolution — Crispus  Attucks. 


132 


ORATION  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  UNVEIL 
ING  OF  FREEDMEN'S  MONUMENT* 

BY  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

Friends  and  Fellow  Citizens: 

I  warmly  congratulate  you  upon  the  highly  interest 
ing  object  which  has  caused  you  to  assemble  in  such 
numbers  and  spirit  as  you  have  to-day.  This  occasion 
is,  in  some  respects,  remarkable.  Wise  and  thoughtful 
men  of  our  race,  who  shall  come  after  us  and  study  the 
lesson  of  our  history  in  the  United  States;  who  shall 
survey  the  long  and  dreary  spaces  over  which  we  have 
traveled;  who  shall  count  the  links  in  the  great  chain 
of  events  by  which  we  have  reached  our  present  position, 
will  make  a  note  of  this  occasion;  they  will  think  of 
it  and  speak  of  it  with  a  sense  of  manly  pride  and 
complacency. 

I  congratulate  you,  also,  upon  the  very  favorable 
circumstances  in  which  we  meet  to-day.  They  are  high, 
inspiring,  and  uncommon.  They  lend  grace,  glory,  and 
significance  to  the  object  for  which  we  have  met.  No 
where  else  in  this  great  country,  with  its  uncounted  towns 
and  cities,  unlimited  wealth,  and  immeasurable  territory 

*  Oration  delivered  by  Frederick  Douglass  on  the  occasion  of  the  unveil 
ing  of  the  Freedmen's  Monument,  in  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  Lincoln 
Park,  Washington,  D.  C,  April  14,  1876. 

133 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

extending  from  sea  to  sea,  could  conditions  be  found 
more  favorable  to  the  success  of  this  occasion  than  at 
this  place. 

We  stand  to-day  at  the  national  center  to  perform 
something  like  a  national  act — an  act  which  is  to  go 
into  history;  and  we  are  here  where  every  pulsation  of 
the  national  heart  can  be  heard,  felt,  and  reciprocated. 
A  thousand  wires,  fed  with  thought  and  winged  with 
lightning,  put  us  in  instantaneous  communication  with 
the  loyal  and  true  men  over  this  country. 

Few  facts  could  better  illustrate  the  vast  and  wonder 
ful  change  which  has  taken  place  in  our  condition  as  a 
people  than  the  fact  of  our  assembling  here  for  the  pur 
pose  we  have  to-day.  Harmless,  beautiful,  proper,  and 
praiseworthy  as  this  demonstration  is,  I  cannot  forget 
that  no  such  demonstration  would  have  been  tolerated 
here  twenty  years  ago.  The  spirit  of  slavery  and  bar 
barism,  which  still  lingers  to  blight  and  destroy  in  some 
dark  and  distant  parts  of  our  country,  would  have  made 
our  assembling  here  the  signal  and  excuse  for  opening 
upon  us  the  flood-gates  of  wrath  and  violence.  That 
we  are  here  in  peace  to-day  is  a  compliment  and  a  credit 
to  American  civilization,  and  a  prophecy  of  still  greater 
enlightenment  and  progress  in  the  future.  I  refer  to 
the  past,  not  in  malice,  but  simply  to  place  more  dis 
tinctly  in  front  the  gratifying  and  glorious  change  which 
has  come  both  to  our  white  fellow  citizens  and  ourselves, 
and  to  congratulate  all  upon  the  contrast  between  now 
and  then;  the  new  dispensation  of  freedom  with  its 
thousand  blessings  to  both  races,  and  the  old  dispensa- 

134 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

tion  of  slavery  with  its  ten  thousand  evils  to  both  races — 
white  and  black.  In  view,  then,  of  the  past,  the  present, 
and  the  future,  with  the  long  and  dark  history  of  our 
bondage  behind  us,  and  with  liberty,  progress,  and  en 
lightenment  before  us,  I  again  congratulate  you  upon 
this  auspicious  day  and  hour. 

Friends  and  fellow  citizens,  the  story  of  our  presence 
here  is  soon  and  easily  told.  We  are  here  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  here  in  the  City  of  Washington,  the  most 
luminous  point  of  American  territory,  a  city  recently 
transformed  and  made  beautiful  in  its  body  and  in  its 
spirit;  we  are  here,  in  the  place  where  the  ablest  and  best 
men  of  the  country  are  sent  to  devise  the  policy,  enact 
the  laws,  and  shape  the  destiny  of  the  Republic;  we  are 
here,  with  the  stately  pillars  and  majestic  dome  of  the 
Capitol  of  the  nation  looking  down  upon  us;  we  are  here, 
with  the  broad  earth  freshly  adorned  with  the  foliage  and 
flowers  of  spring  for  our  church,  and  all  races,  colors,  and 
conditions  of  men  for  our  congregation — in  a  word,  we 
are  here  to  express,  as  best  we  may,  by  appropriate  forms 
and  ceremonies,  our  grateful  sense  of  the  vast,  high,  and 
pre-eminent  services  rendered  to  ourselves,  to  our  race, 
to  our  country,  and  to  the  whole  world  by  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The  sentiment  that  brings  us  here  to-day  is  one  of 
the  noblest  that  can  stir  and  thrill  the  human  heart.  It 
has  crowned  and  made  glorious  the  high  places  of  all 
civilized  nations  with  the  grandest  and  most  enduring 
works  of  art,  designed  to  illustrate  the  characters  and 
perpetuate  the  memories  of  great  public  men.  It  is  the 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

sentiment,  which  from  year  to  year  adorns  with  fragrant 
and  beautiful  flowers  the  graves  of  our  loyal,  brave,  and 
patriotic  soldiers  who  fell  in  defense  of  the  Union  and 
Liberty.  It  is  the  sentiment  of  gratitude  and  apprecia 
tion,  which  often,  in  the  presence  of  many  who  hear  me, 
has  filled  yonder  heights  of  Arlington  with  the  eloquence 
of  eulogy  and  the  sublime  enthusiasm  of  poetry  and  song; 
a  sentiment  which  can  never  die  while  the  Republic  lives. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  people,  and  in 
the  history  of  the  whole  American  people,  we  join  in  this 
high  worship,  and  march  conspicuously  in  the  line  of  this 
tune-honored  custom.  First  things  are  always  inter 
esting,  and  this  is  one  of  our  first  things.  It  is  the  first 
tune  that,  in  this  form  and  manner,  we  have  sought  to  do 
honor  to  an  American  great  man,  however  deserving  and 
illustrious.  I  commend  the  fact  to  notice;  let  it  be  told 
hi  every  part  of  the  Republic;  let  men  of  all  parties  and 
opinions  hear  it;  let  those  who  despise  us,  not  less  than 
those  who  respect  us,  know  that  now  and  here,  in  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  loyalty,  and  gratitude,  let  it  be  known 
everywhere,  and  by  everybody  who  takes  an  interest  in 
human  progress  and  in  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  mankind,  that,  in  the  presence  and  with  the  approval 
of  the  members  of  the  American  House  of  Representa 
tives,  reflecting  the  general  sentiment  of  the  country; 
that  in  the  presence  of  that  august  body,  the  American 
Senate,  representing  the  highest  intelligence  and  the 
calmest  judgment  in  the  country;  in  the  presence  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
to  whose  decisions  we  all  patriotically  bow;  in  the  pres- 

136 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

ence  and  under  the  steady  eye  of  the  honored  and  trusted 
President  of  the  United  States,  with  the  members  of  his 
wise  and  patriotic  Cabinet,  we,  the  colored  people,  newly 
emancipated  and  rejoicing  in  our  blood-bought  freedom, 
near  the  close  of  the  first  century  in  the  life  of  this  Re 
public,  have  now  and  here  unveiled,  set  apart,  and  dedi 
cated  a  monument  of  enduring  granite  and  bronze,  in 
every  line,  feature,  and  figure  of  which  the  men  of  this 
generation  may  read,  and  those  of  after-coming  genera 
tions  may  read,  something  of  the  exalted  character  and 
great  works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  first  martyr  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States. 

Fellow  citizens,  in  what  we  have  said  and  done  to 
day,  and  in  what  we  may  say  and  do  hereafter,  we  dis 
claim  everything  like  arrogance  and  assumption.  We 
claim  for  ourselves  no  superior  devotion  to  the  charac 
ter,  history,  and  memory  of  the  illustrious  name  whose 
monument  we  have  here  dedicated  to-day.  We  fully 
comprehend  the  relations  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  both  to 
ourselves  and  to  the  white  people  of  the  United  States. 
Truth  is  proper  and  beautiful  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  and  it  is  never  more  proper  and  beautiful  in  any 
case  than  when  speaking  of  a  great  public  man  whose 
example  is  likely  to  be  commended  for  honor  and  imita 
tion  long  after  his  departure  to  the  solemn  shades — the 
silent  continents  of  eternity.  It  must  be  admitted,  truth 
compels  me  to  admit,  even  here  in  the  presence  of  the 
monument  we  have  erected  to  his  memory,  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  not,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  either 
our  man  or  our  model.  In  his  interests,  in  his  associa- 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

tions,  in  his  habits  of  thought,  and  in  his  prejudices,  he 
was  a  white  man. 

He  was  pre-eminently  the  white  man's  President,  en 
tirely  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  white  man.  He  was 
ready  and  willing  at  any  time  during  the  first  years  of  his 
administration  to  deny,  postpone,  and  sacrifice  the  rights 
of  humanity  in  the  colored  people  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  white  people  of  this  country.  In  all  his  education 
and  feeling  he  was  an  American  of  the  Americans.  He 
came  into  the  Presidential  chair  upon  one  principle 
alone,  namely,  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery. 
His  arguments  in  furtherance  of  this  policy  had  their 
motive  and  mainspring  in  his  patriotic  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  his  own  race.  To  protect,  defend,  and  per 
petuate  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  not  less  ready  than  any  other  President  to 
draw  the  sword  of  the  nation.  He  was  ready  to  execute 
all  the  supposed  constitutional  guarantees  of  the  United 
States  Constitution  in  favor  of  the  slave  system  anywhere 
inside  of  the  slave  States.  He  was  willing  to  pursue,  re 
capture,  and  send  back  the  fugitive  slave  to  his  master, 
and  to  suppress  a  slave  rising  for  liberty,  though  his 
guilty  master  were  already  in  arms  against  the  Govern 
ment.  The  race  to  which  we  belong  was  not  the  special 
object  of  his  consideration.  Knowing  this,  I  concede  to 
you,  my  white  fellow  citizens,  a  pre-eminence  in  this 
worship  at  once  full  and  supreme.  First,  midst,  and  last, 
you  and  yours  were  the  objects  of  his  deepest  affection 
and  his  most  earnest  solicitude.  You  are  the  children 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  We  are  at  best,  only  his  step- 

138 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

children;  children  by  adoption,  children  by  force  of 
circumstances  and  necessity.  To  you  it  especially  belongs 
to  sound  his  praises,  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  his  mem 
ory,  to  multiply  his  statues,  to  hang  his  pictures  high 
upon  your  walls,  and  commend  his  example,  for  to  you 
he  was  a  great  and  glorious  friend  and  benefactor.  In 
stead  of  supplanting  you  at  this  altar,  we  would  exhort 
you  to  build  high  his  monuments;  let  them  be  of  the 
most  costly  material,  of  the  most  cunning  workmanship; 
let  their  forms  be  symmetrical,  beautiful,  and  perfect; 
let  their  bases  be  upon  solid  rocks,  and  their  summits 
lean  against  the  unchanging  blue,  overhanging  sky,  and 
let  them  endure  forever!  But  while,  in  the  abundance 
of  your  wealth,  and  in  the  fullness  of  your  just  and  pa 
triotic  devotion,  you  do  all  this,  we  entreat  you  to  despise 
not  the  humble  offering  we  this  day  unveil  to  view;  for 
while  Abraham  Lincoln  saved  for  you  a  country,  he  de 
livered  us  from  a  bondage,  according  to  Jefferson,  one 
hour  of  which  was  worse  than  ages  of  the  oppression  your 
fathers  rose  in  rebellion  to  oppose. 

Fellow  citizens,  ours  is  no  new-born  zeal  and  de 
votion — merely  a  thing  of  the  moment.  The  name  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  near  and  dear  to  our  hearts  in  the 
darkest  and  most  perilous  hours  of  the  Republic.  We 
were  no  more  ashamed  of  him  when  shrouded  in  clouds 
of  darkness,  of  doubt  and  defeat,  than  when  we  saw  him 
crowned  with  victory,  honor,  and  glory.  Our  faith  in 
him  was  often  taxed  and  strained  to  the  uttermost,  but 
it  never  failed.  When  he  tarried  long  in  the  mountains; 
when  he  strangely  told  us  that  we  were  the  cause  of  the 

139 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

war;  when  he  still  more  strangely  told  us  to  leave  the 
land  in  which  we  were  born;  when  he  refused  to  employ 
our  arms  in  defense  of  the  Union;  when,  after  accepting 
our  services  as  colored  soldiers,  he  refused  to  retaliate 
our  murder  and  torture  as  colored  prisoners;  when  he 
told  us  he  would  save  the  Union,  if  he  could,  with  slavery; 
when  he  revoked  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  of 
General  Fremont;  when  he  refused  to  remove  the  popular 
Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  the  days  of 
its  inaction  and  defeat,  who  was  more  zealous  in  his  efforts 
to  protect  slavery  than  to  suppress  rebellion;  when  we 
saw  all  this  and  more,  we  were  at  times  grieved,  stunned, 
and  greatly  bewildered,  but  our  hearts  believed,  while 
they  ached  and  bled.  Nor  was  this,  at  that  time,  a  blind 
and  unreasoning  superstition.  Despite  the  mist  and  haze 
that  surround  him;  despite  the  tumult,  the  hurry,  and 
confusion  of  the  hour,  we  were  able  to  take  a  compre 
hensive  view  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  to  make  reasonable 
allowance  for  the  circumstances  of  his  position.  We 
saw  him,  measured  him,  and  estimated  him;  not  by  stray 
utterances  to  injudicious  and  tedious  delegations,  who 
often  tried  his  patience;  not  by  isolated  facts,  torn  from 
their  connection;  not  by  partial  and  imperfect  glimpses 
caught  at  inopportune  moments;  but  by  a  broad  survey, 
in  the  light  of  the  stern  logic  of  great  events,  and  in  view 
of  that  divinity  which  "shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew  them 
as  we  will,"  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  hour  and 
the  man  of  our  redemption  had  somehow  met  in  the  per 
son  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  mattered  little  to  us  what 
language  he  might  employ  on  special  occasions;  it  mat- 

140 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

tered  little  to  us  when  we  fully  knew  him,  whether  he 
was  swift  or  slow  in  his  movements;  it  was  enough  for 
us  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  at  the  head  of  a  great 
movement,  and  was  in  living  and  earnest  sympathy  with 
that  movement,  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  must  go 
on  until  slavery  should  be  utterly  and  forever  abolished 
in  the  United  States. 

When,  therefore,  it  shall  be  asked  what  we  have  to  do 
with  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  what  Abraham 
Lincoln  had  to  do  with  us,  the  answer  is  ready,  full,  and 
complete.  Though  he  loved  Caesar  less  than  Rome, 
though  the  Union  was  more  to  him  than  our  freedom  or 
our  future,  under  his  wise  and  beneficent  rule,  and  by 
measures  approved  and  vigorously  pressed  by  him,  we 
saw  that  the  handwriting  of  ages,  in  the  form  of  prejudice 
and  proscription,  was  rapidly  fading  away  from  the  face 
of  our  whole  country;  under  his  rule,  and  in  due  time, 
about  as  soon,  after  all,  as  the  country  could  tolerate  the 
strange  spectacle,  we  saw  our  brave  sons  and  brothers 
laying  off  the  rags  of  bondage,  and  being  clothed  all  over 
in  the  blue  uniforms  of  the  soldiers  of  the  United  States; 
under  his  rule,  we  saw  two  hundred  thousand  of  our 
dark  and  dusky  people  responding  to  the  call  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  with  muskets  on  their  shoulders,  and  eagles 
on  their  buttons,  timing  their  high  footsteps  to  liberty 
and  union  under  the  national  flag;  under  his  rule,  we 
saw  the  independence  of  the  black  Republic  of  Haiti,  the 
special  object  of  slave-holding  aversion  and  horror,  fully 
recognized,  and  her  minister,  a  colored  gentleman,  duly 
received  here  in  the  City  of  Washington;  under  his  rule, 

141 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

we  saw  the  internal  slave-trade,  which  so  long  disgraced 
the  nation,  abolished,  and  slavery  abolished  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia;  under  his  rule,  we  saw,  for  the  first 
time,  the  law  enforced  against  the  foreign  slave-trade,  and 
the  first  slave-trader  hanged  like  any  other  pirate  or 
murderer;  under  his  rule,  assisted  by  the  greatest  captain 
of  our  age,  and  his  inspiration,  we  saw  the  Confederate 
States,  based  upon  the  idea  that  our  race  must  be  slaves, 
and  slaves  forever,  battered  to  pieces  and  scattered  to 
the  four  winds;  under  his  rule,  and  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  we  saw  Abraham  Lincoln,  after  giving  the  slave 
holders  three  months'  grace  in  which  to  save  their  hateful 
slave  system,  penning  the  immortal  paper,  which,  though 
special  in  its  language,  was  general  in  its  principles  and 
effect,  making  slavery  forever  impossible  in  the  United 
States.  Though  we  waited  long,  we  saw  all  this  and 
more. 

Can  any  colored  man,  or  any  white  man  friendly  to 
the  freedom  of  all  men,  ever  forget  the  night  which  fol 
lowed  the  first  day  of  January,  1863,  when  the  world 
was  to  see  if  Abraham  Lincoln  would  prove  to  be  as  good 
as  his  word?  I  shall  never  forget  that  memorable  night, 
when  in  a  distant  city,  I  waited  and  watched  at  a  public 
meeting,  with  three  thousand  others  not  less  anxious 
than  myself,  for  the  word  of  deliverance  which  we  have 
heard  read  to-day.  Nor  shall  I  ever  forget  the  outburst 
of  joy  and  thanksgiving  that  rent  the  air  when  the  light 
ning  brought  to  us  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  In 
that  happy  hour  we  forgot  all  delay,  and  forgot  all  tar 
diness,  forgot  that  the  President  had  bribed  the  rebels 

142 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

to  lay  down  their  arms  by  a  promise  to  withhold  the  bolt 
that  should  smite  the  slave-system  with  destruction; 
and  we  were  thenceforward  willing  to  allow  the  President 
all  the  latitude  of  time,  phraseology,  and  every  honorable 
device  that  statesmanship  might  require  for  the  achieve 
ment  of  a  great  and  beneficent  measure  of  liberty  and 
progress. 

Fellow  citizens,  there  is  little  necessity  on  this  occa 
sion  to  speak  at  length  and  critically  of  this  great  and  good 
man,  and  of  his  high  mission  in  the  world.  That  ground 
has  been  fully  occupied  and  completely  covered  both 
here  and  elsewhere.  The  whole  field  of  fact  and  fancy 
has  been  gleaned  and  garnered.  Any  man  can  say  things 
that  are  true  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  but  no  man  can  say 
anything  that  is  new  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  His  personal 
traits  and  public  acts  are  better  known  to  the  American 
people  than  are  those  of  any  other  man  of  his  age.  He 
was  a  mystery  to  no  man  who  saw  and  heard  him.  Though 
high  in  position,  the  humblest  could  approach  him  and 
feel  at  home  in  his  presence.  Though  deep,  he  was  trans 
parent;  though  strong,  he  was  gentle;  though  decided 
and  pronounced  in  his  convictions,  he  was  tolerant  to 
wards  those  who  differed  from  him,  and  patient  under 
reproaches.  Even  those  who  only  knew  him  through  his 
public  utterances  obtained  a  tolerably  clear  idea  of  his 
character  and  personality.  The  image  of  the  man  went 
out  with  his  words,  and  those  who  read  them  knew  him. 

I  have  said  that  President  Lincoln  was  a  white  man 
and  shared  the  prejudices  common  to  his  countrymen 
towards  the  colored  race.  Looking  back  to  his  times  and 

143 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

to  the  condition  of  his  country,  we  are  compelled  to  admit 
that  this  unfriendly  feeling  on  his  part  may  safely  be  set 
down  as  one  element  of  his  wonderful  success  in  organ 
izing  the  loyal  American  people  for  the  tremendous  con 
flict  before  them,  and  bringing  them  safely  through  that 
conflict.  His  great  mission  was  to  accomplish  two  things : 
first,  to  save  his  country  from  dismemberment  and  ruin; 
and  secondly,  to  free  his  country  from  the  great  crime  of 
slavery.  To  do  one  or  the  other,  or  both,  he  must  have 
the  earnest  sympathy  and  the  powerful  co-operation  of 
his  loyal  fellow  countrymen.  Without  this  primary  and 
essential  condition  to  success  his  efforts  must  have  been 
vain  and  utterly  fruitless.  Had  he  put  the  abolition  of 
slavery  before  the  salvation  of  the  Union,  he  would  have 
inevitably  driven  from  him  a  powerful  class  of  American 
people  and  rendered  resistance  to  rebellion  impossible. 
Viewed  from  the  genuine  abolition  ground,  Mr.  Lincoln 
seemed  tardy,  cold,  dull,  and  indifferent;  but  measuring 
him  by  the  sentiment  of  his  country,  a  sentiment  he  was 
bound  as  a  statesman  to  consult,  he  was  swift,  zealous, 
radical,  and  determined. 

Though  Mr.  Lincoln  shared  the  prejudices  of  his 
white  countrymen  against  the  Negro,  it  is  hardly  neces 
sary  to  say  that  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  loathed  and 
hated  slavery.*  The  man  who  could  say  "Fondly  do 
we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  shall  soon  pass  away,  yet  if  God  wills  it  continue 

*  "I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong. 
I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so  think  and  feel." — Letter  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  Mr.  Hodges  of  Kentucky,  April  4,  1864. 

144 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

till  all  the  wealth  piled  by  two  hundred  years  of  bondage 
shall  have  been  wasted,  and  each  drop  of  blood  drawn 
by  the  lash  shall  have  been  paid  for  by  one  drawn  by  the 
sword,  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether,"  gives  all  needed  proof  of  his  feeling  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  He  was  willing,  while  the  South  was 
loyal,  that  it  should  have  its  pound  of  flesh,  because  he 
thought  it  was  so  nominated  in  the  bond;  but  farther 
than  this,  no  earthly  power  could  make  him  go. 

Fellow  citizens,  whatever  else  in  the  world  may  be 
partial,  unjust,  and  uncertain,  time — time — is  impartial, 
just,  and  certain  in  its  action.  In  the  realm  of  mind,  as 
well  as  in  the  realm  of  matter,  it  is  a  great  worker,  and 
often  works  wonders.  The  honest  and  comprehensive 
statesman,  clearly  discerning  the  needs  of  his  country,  and 
earnestly  endeavoring  to  do  his  whole  duty,  though 
covered  and  blistered  with  reproaches,  may  safely  leave 
his  course  to  the  silent  judgment  of  time.  Few  great 
public  men  have  ever  been  the  victims  of  fiercer  denun 
ciation  than  Abraham  Lincoln  was  during  his  adminis 
tration.  He  was  often  wounded  in  the  house  of  his 
friends.  Reproaches  came  thick  and  fast  from  within 
and  from  without,  and  from  opposite  quarters.  He  was 
assailed  by  abolitionists;  he  was  assailed  by  slave-holders; 
he  was  assailed  by  the  men  who  were  for  peace  at  any 
price;  he  was  assailed  by  those  who  were  for  a  more 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  way;  he  was  assailed  for 
not  making  the  war  an  abolition  war;  and  he  was  most 
bitterly  assailed  for  making  the  war  an  abolition  war. 

145 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

But  now  behold  the  change;  the  judgment  of  the 
present  hour  is,  that  taking  him  for  all  in  all,  measuring 
the  tremendous  magnitude  of  the  work  before  him,  con 
sidering  the  necessary  means  to  ends,  and  surveying  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  infinite  wisdom  has  seldom  sent 
any  man  into  the  world  better  fitted  for  his  mission  than 
Abraham  Lincoln.  His  birth,  his  training,  and  his 
natural  endowments,  both  mental  and  physical,  were 
strongly  in  his  favor.  Born  and  reared  among  the  lowly, 
a  stranger  to  wealth  and  luxury,  compelled  to  grapple 
single-handed  with  the  flintiest  hardships  of  life,  from 
tender  youth  to  sturdy  manhood,  he  grew  strong  in  the 
manly  and  heroic  qualities  demanded  by  the  great  mission 
to  which  he  was  called  by  the  votes  of  his  countrymen. 
The  hard  condition  of  his  early  life,  which  would  have 
depressed  and  broken  down  weaker  men,  only  gave 
greater  life,  vigor,  and  buoyancy  to  the  heroic  spirit  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  ready  for  any  kind  and 
quality  of  work.  What  other  young  men  dreaded  in  the 
shape  of  toil,  he  took  hold  of  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness. 

"A  spade,  a  rake,  a  hoe, 
A  pick-axe,  or  a  bill, 
A  hook  to  reap,  a  scythe  to  mow 
A  flail,  or  what  you  will." 

All  day  long  he  could  split  heavy  rails  in  the  woods, 
and  half  the  night  long  he  could  study  his  English  Gram 
mar  by  the  uncertain  flare  and  glare  of  the  light  made  by 
a  pine-knot.  He  was  at  home  on  the  land  with  his  axe, 
with  his  maul,  with  gluts,  and  his  wedges;  and  he  was 
equally  at  home  on  water,  with  his  oars,  with  his  poles, 

146 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

with  his  planks,  and  with  his  boat-hooks.  And  whether 
in  his  flat-boat  on  the  Mississippi  River,  or  on  the  fire 
side  of  his  frontier  cabin,  he  was  a  man  of  work.  A  son 
of  toil  himself,  he  was  linked  in  brotherly  sympathy  with 
the  sons  of  toil  in  every  loyal  part  of  the  Republic.  This 
very  fact  gave  him  tremendous  power  with  the  American 
people,  and  materially  contributed  not  only  to  selecting 
him  to  the  Presidency,  but  in  sustaining  his  adminis 
tration  of  the  Government. 

Upon  his  inauguration  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  an  office,  even  where  assumed  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions,  fitted  to  tax  and  strain  the  largest 
abilities,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  met  by  a  tremendous 
crisis.  He  was  called  upon,  not  merely  to  administer  the 
government,  but  to  decide  in  the  face  of  terrible  odds, 
the  fate  of  the  Republic. 

A  formidable  rebellion  rose  in  his  path  before  him; 
the  Union  was  practically  dissolved;  his  country  was  torn 
and  rent  asunder  at  the  center.  Hostile  armies  were 
already  organized  against  the  Republic,  armed  with  the 
munitions  of  war  which  the  Republic  had  provided  for 
its  own  defense.  The  tremendous  question  for  him  to 
decide  was  whether  his  country  should  survive  the  crisis 
and  flourish,  or  be  dismembered  and  perish.  His  pre 
decessor  in  office  had  already  decided  the  question  in 
favor  of  national  dismemberment,  by  denying  to  it  the 
right  of  self-defense  and  self-preservation — a  right  which 
belongs  to  the  meanest  insect. 

Happily  for  the  country,  happily  for  you  and  me,  the 
judgment  of  James  Buchanan,  the  patrician,  was  not 

147 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  judgment  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  plebeian.  He 
brought  his  strong  common  sense,  sharpened  in  the 
school  of  adversity,  to  bear  upon  the  question.  He 
did  not  hesitate,  he  did  not  doubt,  he  did  not  falter  but 
at  once  resolved,  at  whatever  peril,  at  whatever  cost, 
the  Union  of  the  States  should  be  preserved.  A  patriot 
himself,  his  faith  was  strong  and  unwavering  in  the  pa 
triotism  of  his  countrymen.  Timid  men  said,  before  Mr. 
Lincoln's  inauguration,  that  we  had  seen  the  last  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  A  voice  in  influential  quar 
ters  said,  "Let  the  Union  slide."  Some  said  that  a  Union 
maintained  by  the  sword  was  worthless.  Others  said  that 
a  rebellion  of  8,000,000,  cannot  be  suppressed;  but  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  tumult  and  timidity,  and  against  all 
this,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  clear  in  his  duty,  and  had 
an  oath  in  heaven.  He  calmly  and  bravely  heard  the 
voice  of  doubt  and  fear  all  around  him;  but  he  had  an 
oath  in  heaven,  and  there  was  not  power  enough  on 
earth  to  make  this  honest  boatman,  backwoodsman, 
and  broad-handed  splitter  of  rails  evade  or  violate  that 
sacred  oath.  He  had  not  been  schooled  in  the  ethics  of 
slavery;  his  plain  life  had  favored  his  love  of  truth.  He 
had  not  been  taught  that  treason  and  perjury  were  the 
proofs  of  honor  and  honesty.  His  moral  training  was 
against  his  saying  one  thing  when  he  meant  another. 
The  trust  which  Abraham  Lincoln  had  in  himself  and 
hi  the  people  was  surprising  and  grand,  but  it  was  also 
enlightened  and  well-founded.  He  knew  the  American 
people  better  than  they  knew  themselves,  and  his  truth 
was  based  upon  this  knowledge. 

148 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 

Fellow  citizens,  the  fourteenth  day  of  April,  1865, 
of  which  this  is  the  eleventh  anniversary,  is  now,  and  will 
ever  remain  a  memorable  day  in  the  annals  of  this  Re 
public.  It  was  on  the  evening  of  this  day,  while  a  fierce 
and  sanguinary  rebellion  was  in  the  last  stages  of  its 
desolating  power;  while  its  armies  were  broken  and  scat 
tered  before  the  invincible  armies  of  Grant  and  Sherman; 
while  a  great  nation,  torn  and  rent  by  war,  was  already 
beginning  to  raise  to  the  skies  loud  anthems  of  joy  at 
the  dawn  of  peace,  it  was  startled,  amazed,  and  over 
whelmed  by  the  crowning  crime  of  slavery — the  assassin 
ation  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  a  new  crime,  a  pure 
act  of  malice.  No  purpose  of  the  rebellion  was  to  be 
served  by  it.  It  was  the  simple  gratification  of  a  hell- 
black  spirit  of  revenge.  But  it  has  done  good,  after  all. 
It  has  filled  the  country  with  a  deeper  abhorrence  of 
slavery  and  a  deep  love  for  the  great  liberator. 

Had  Abraham  Lincoln  died  from  any  of  the  numerous 
ills  to  which  flesh  is  heir;  had  he  reached  that  good 
old  age  of  which  his  vigorous  constitution  and  his  tem 
perate  habits  gave  promise;  had  he  been  permitted  to 
see  the  end  of  his  great  work;  had  the  solemn  curtain 
of  death  come  down  but  gradually — we  should  still 
have  been  smitten  with  a  heavy  grief,  and  treasured  his 
name  lovingly.  But  dying,  as  he  did  die,  by  the  red  hand 
of  violence,  killed,  assassinated,  taken  off  without  warning, 
not  because  of  personal  hate, — for  no  man  who  knew 
Abraham  Lincoln  could  hate  him — but  because  of  his 
fidelity  to  union  and  liberty,  he  is  doubly  dear  to  us, 
and  his  memory  will  be  precious  forever. 

140 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Fellow  citizens,  I  end,  as  I  began,  with  congratula 
tions.  We  have  done  a  good  work  for  our  race  to-day.  In 
doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  our  friend  and  liberator, 
we  have  been  doing  highest  honors  to  ourselves  and  those 
who  come  after  us;  we  have  been  fastening  ourselves  to 
a  name  and  fame  imperishable  and  immortal;  we  have 
also  been  defending  ourselves  from  a  blighting  scandal. 
When  now  it  shall  be  said  that  the  colored  man  is  soulless, 
that  he  has  no  appreciation  of  benefits  or  benefactors; 
when  the  foul  reproach  of  ingratitude  is  hurled  at  us, 
and  it  is  attempted  to  scourge  us  beyond  the  range  of 
human  brotherhood,  we  may  calmly  point  to  the  monu 
ment  we  have  this  day  erected  to  the  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 


150 


ADDRESS  DURING  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  CAM 
PAIGN  OF  1880* 

BY  PINKNEY  BENTON  STEWART  PINCHBACK 

PINKNEY  BENTON  STEWART  PINCHBACK  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
picturesque  figures  in  the  race.  A  staunch  fighter  in  the  Reconstruction  period 
in  Louisiana,  a  delegate  to  many  national  Republican  Conventions;  Ex- 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Louisiana. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Citizens: 

The  founders  of  the  Republican  party  were  aggressive 
men.  They  believed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  the  great  truths  it  contains;  and  their  purpose  was 
to  make  these  truths  living  realities.  Possessing  the 
courage  of  their  convictions  and  regarding  slavery  as  the 
arch  enemy  of  the  Republic — the  greatest  obstruction 
to  its  maintenance,  advancement  and  prosperity, — they 
proclaimed  an  eternal  war  against  it  and,  marshalling 
their  forces  under  the  banner  of  freedom  and  equality 
before  the  law  for  all  men,  boldly  and  defiantly  met  the 
enemy  at  every  point  and  fairly  routed  it  all  along  the 
line.  Those  men  believed  in  and  relied  upon  the  con 
science  of  the  people.  To  touch  and  arouse  public  con 
science  and  to  convince  it  of  the  justice  of  their  cause,  they 
felt  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  enlist  the  people  on 
their  side.  Ridiculed,  threatened,  ostracised,  and  a&- 

*  Delivered  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 

151 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

saulted,  they  could  not  be  turned  from  their  purpose,  and 
their  achievements  constitute  the  grandeur  and  glory  of 
the  Republican  party.  There  were  no  apologists  for 
wrong-doers  among  those  men,  and  there  ought  to  be  none 
in  the  Republican  party  to-day.  The  South  was  the  great 
disturbing  element  then  as  it  is  now;  and  the  causes  which 
rendered  it  so  are,  in  a  large  measure,  the  same.  The 
people  were  divided  into  three  classes — slave-holders, 
slaves,  and  poor  whites,  or  "poor  white  trash"  as  the 
latter  were  called  by  the  colored  people  because  of  their 
utter  insignificance  in  that  community.  Its  peculiar 
condition  established  in  the  large  land  and  slave-owning 
portion  of  the  people  a  sort  of  privileged  class  who 
claimed  and  exercised  the  right  not  only  to  rule  the  South, 
but  the  nation;  and  for  many  years  that  class  controlled 
both.  Gorged  with  wealth  and  drunk  with  power, 
considering  themselves  born  to  command  and  govern, 
being  undisputed  rulers,  almost  by  inheritance  in  their 
States,  the  Southern  politicians  naturally  became  aggres 
sive,  dictatorial,  and  determined  to  ruin  the  country 
and  sever  the  Union  rather  than  consent  to  relinquish 
power,  even  though  called  upon  to  do  so  by  constituted 
methods.  Hence  it  was  that,  when  the  people  of  the 
great  North  and  Northwest  concluded  to  assert  their 
rights  and  choose  a  man  from  among  themselves  for 
President,  they  rebelled  and  forced  upon  the  country 
so  far  as  they  were  concerned,  the  most  causeless  and 
unnatural  war  recorded  in  history. 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  history  of  the  war  or  at 
tempt  to  detail  its  horrors  and  sum  up  its  cost.    I  leave 

152 


PINKNEY  B.  S.  PINCHBACK 

that  task  to  others.    If  the  wounds  made  by  it  have  been 
healed,  which  I  do  not  concede,  far  be  it  from  my  purpose 
to  re-open  them.    My  sole  reason  for  referring  to  the  war 
at  all  is  to  remind  the  Northern  people  of  some  of  the 
agencies  employed  in  its  successful  prosecution.    When 
it  commenced,  the  principal  labor  element  of  the  South — 
the  source  of  its  production  and  wealth — was  the  colored 
race.     Four  millions  and  a  half  of  these  unfortunate 
people  were  there,  slaves  and  property  of  the  men  who 
refused  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  people  lawfully  ex 
pressed  through  the  ballot-box.     They  were  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  Confederacy,  tilling  its  fields  and  pro 
ducing  sustenance  for  its  armies,  while  many  of  the 
best  men  of  the  North  were  compelled  to  abandon 
Northern  fields  to  shoulder  a  musket  in  defense  of  the 
Union.    As  a  war    measure  and  to  deprive  the  South  of 
such  a  great  advantage,  your  President,  the  immortal 
Lincoln,  issued  a  proclamation  hi  September,  1862,  in 
which  he  gave  public  notice  that  it  was  his  purpose  to 
declare  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the  States 
wherein  insurrection  existed  on  January  i,  1863,  unless 
the  offenders  therein  lay  down  their  arms.    That  notice, 
thank  God,  was  disregarded,  and  the  proclamation  of 
January   i,    1863,  proclaiming    universal  emancipation 
followed.     Had  the  requirements  of  the  first  procla 
mation  been  observed  by  the  people  to  whom  it  was 
addressed  who  can  doubt  what  would  have  been  the 
fate  of  the  colored  people  in  the  South?    It  is  reasonable 
to  assume,  inasmuch  as  the  war  was  waged  to  perpetuate 
the  Union  and  not  to  destroy  slavery — that  they  would 

153 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

have  remained  in  hopeless  bondage.  On  more  than  one 
occasion  President  Lincoln  officially  declared  that  he 
would  save  the  Union  with  slavery  if  he  could,  and  not 
until  it  became  manifest  that  slavery  was  the  mainstay  of 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  prosecution  of  the  war  to  a 
successful  close  would  be  difficult  without  its  destruction, 
did  he  dare  touch  it.  I  do  not  think  that  President  Lin 
coln's  hesitancy  to  act  upon  the  question  arose  from 
sympathy  with  the  accursed  institution,  for  I  believe 
every  pulsation  of  his  heart  was  honest  and  pure  and 
that  he  was  an  ardent  and  devoted  lover  of  universal 
liberty;  but  he  doubted  whether  his  own  people  would 
approve  of  his  interference  with  it.  Assured  by  the 
manner  in  which  the  people  of  the  North  received  his 
first  proclamation  that  they  appreciated  the  necessity  of 
destroying  this  great  aid  of  the  enemy,  he  went  forward 
bravely  declaring  that,  "possibly  for  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  by  the  lash  one  might  have  to  be  drawn  by  the 
sword,  but  if  so,  as  was  said  over  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago,  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  just  and  righteous 
altogether,"  and  abolished  human  slavery  from  the  land 
forever. 

That  this  great  act  was  a  Godsend  and  an  immeas 
urable  blessing  to  the  colored  race,  I  admit,  but  I  declare 
in  the  same  breath  that  it  was  dictated  and  performed 
more  in  the  interest  of  the  white  people  of  the  North 
and  to  aid  them  hi  conquering  the  rebellion  than  from 
love  of  or  a  disposition  to  help  the  Negro.  The  enfran 
chisement  of  the  colored  race  also  sprang  from  the  neces 
sities  of  the  nation.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  South- 

154 


PINKNEY  B.  S.  PINCHBACK 

ern  States  had  to  be  rehabilitated  with  civil  governments 
and  re-admitted  into  the  Union.  The  men  who  had 
plunged  the  country  into  war  and  had  tried  to  destroy 
the  Government  were  about  to  resume  their  civil  and 
political  rights,  and,  through  the  election  of  Representa 
tives  and  Senators  in  Congress,  regain  influence  and 
power  hi  national  councils.  Apprehending  danger  from 
the  enormous  power  they  would  possess  if  reinstated  in 
absolute  control  of  eleven  States,  some  means  had  to  be 
devised  to  prevent  this.  A  political  element,  loyal  to  the 
Union  and  the  flag,  must  be  created;  and  again  the  ever 
faithful  colored  people  were  brought  into  requisition,  and 
without  their  asking  for  it,  the  elective  franchise  was 
conferred  upon  them.  There  was  no  question  about  the 
loyalty  of  these  people,  and  the  supposition  that  they 
would  be  a  valuable  political  force  and  form  the  basis  of 
a  loyal  political  party  in  the  South  was  both  natural 
and  just,  and  the  wisdom  of  their  enfranchisement  was 
demonstrated  by  the  establishment  of  Republican  gov 
ernments  in  several  of  the  States,  and  the  sending  of 
mixed  delegations  of  Republican  and  Democratic  mem 
bers  of  Congress  therefrom  so  long  as  the  laws  confer 
ring  citizenship  upon  the  colored  man  were  enforced. 

If  the  South  is  to  remain  politically  Democratic  as 
it  is  to-day,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  colored  people. 
Their  fealty  to  the  North  and  the  Republican  party  is 
without  parallel  in  the  world's  history.  In  Louisiana 
alone  more  than  five  thousand  lives  attest  it.  While 
in  nearly  every  other  Southern  State  fully  as  many  lie 
in  premature  graves,  martyrs  to  the  cause.  Considering 

155 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

themselves  abandoned  and  left  to  the  choice  of  exter 
mination  or  the  relinquishment  of  the  exercise  of  their 
political  rights,  they  have,  in  large  districts  in  the  South, 
wisely  preferred  the  latter.  Kept  in  a  constant  condition 
of  suspense  and  dread  by  the  peculiar  methods  of  con 
ducting  canvasses  and  elections  in  that  section,  who  can 
blame  them?  It  is  my  firm  conviction  that  no  other 
people  under  God's  sun,  similarly  situated,  would  have 
done  half  so  well.  The  fault  is  attributable  to  the  vicious 
practise,  which  obtains  largely  even  here  in  the  civilized 
North,  of  apologizing  for  and  condoning  crimes  committed 
for  political  purposes.  Men  love  power  everywhere 
and  Southern  Democrats  are  no  exception.  On  the 
contrary,  deeming  themselves  "bora  to  command," 
as  I  have  already  remarked,  and  knowing  that  there  is  no 
power  to  restrain  or  punish  them  for  crimes  committed 
upon  the  poor  and  defenseless  colored  citizens,  of  course 
they  have  pushed  them  to  the  wall.  The  inequality 
between  the  two  races  in  all  that  constitutes  protective 
forces  was  such  as  to  render  that  result  inevitable  as 
soon  as  Federal  protection  was  withdrawn,  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  affirm  that  unless  some  means  are  devised  to 
enforce  respect  for  the  rights  of  the  colored  citizens  of 
the  South,  their  enfranchisement  will  prove  a  curse 
instead  of  a  benefit  to  the  country.  Emancipated  to 
cripple  the  South  and  enfranchised  to  strengthen  the 
North,  the  colored  race  was  freed  and  its  people  made 
citizens  in  the  interest  of  the  Republic.  Its  funda 
mental  law  declares  them  citizens,  and  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  expressly  states  that:  "The  right  of  citi- 

Ifi6 


PINKNEY  B.  S.  PINCH  BACK 

zens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be  denied  or 
abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  account 
of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude."  The 
faith  and  honor  of  the  Nation  are  pledged  to  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  law  in  this,  as  in  every  other  respect, 
and  the  interests  of  the  40,000,000  white  people  hi  the 
Republic  demand  it.  If  the  law,  both  constitutional 
and  statutory,  affecting  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
colored  citizens  can  be  defiantly  ignored  and  disobeyed 
in  eleven  States  of  the  Union  in  a  matter  of  such  grave 
import  as  this — a  matter  involving  the  very  essence 
of  republican  government,  *.  e.,  the  right  of  the  majority 
to  rule — who  can  tell  where  it  will  end  and  how  long  it 
will  be  before  elections  in  all  of  the  States  will  be  armed 
conflicts,  to  be  decided  by  the  greatest  prowess  and  dex 
terity  in  the  use  of  the  bowie  knife,  pistol,  shot-gun 
and  rifle? 

White  men  of  the  North,  I  tell  you  this  practise  of 
controlling  elections  in  the  South  by  force  and  fraud  is 
contagious!  It  spreads  with  alarming  rapidity  and  un 
less  eradicated,  will  overtake  and  overwhelm  you  as  it 
has  your  friends  in  the  South.  It  showed  its  horrid  head 
in  Maine,  and  came  very  near  wresting  that  State  from 
a  lawful  majority.  Employed  in  the  South  first  to  drive 
Republicans  from  a  few  counties,  it  has  grown  from 
"autumnal  outbreaks"  into  an  almost  perpetual  hurri 
cane  and,  gathering  force  as  it  goes,  has  violently  seized 
State  after  State,  mastered  the  entire  South,  and  is  even 
now  thundering  at  the  gates  of  the  national  Capital. 
Whether  it  shall  capture  it  too,  and  spread  its  blighting 

157 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

influence  all  over  the  land,  is  the  question  you  must 
answer  at  the  poles  in  this  election. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  great  men  who  founded 
this  Republic  that  it  should  be  "A  government  of  the 
people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people";  that  its  citi 
zens,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  should  enjoy  per 
fect  equality  before  the  law.  To  realize  this  idea  the 
rule  of  the  majority,  to  be  ascertained  through  the  pro 
cesses  provided  by  law,  was  wisely  adopted,  and  the  laws 
providing  for  and  regulating  elections  are  respected 
and  obeyed  in  the  Northern,  Eastern,  and  Western 
States.  The  Democracy  of  the  South  alone  seems 
privileged  to  set  at  defiance  the  organic  as  well  as  every 
statutory  enactment,  national  and  State,  designed  to 
secure  this  essential  principle  of  free  government.  Those 
men  must  be  taught  that  such  an  exceptional  and  un 
healthy  condition  of  things  will  not  be  tolerated;  that 
the  rights  of  citizens  of  every  nationality  are  sacred  in 
the  eyes  of  the  law,  and  their  right  to  vote  for  whom  they 
please  and  have  their  ballots  honestly  counted  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  with  impunity;  that  the  faith 
of  the  Nation  is  pledged  to  the  defense  and  maintenance 
of  these  obligations,  and  it  will  keep  its  pledge  at  what 
ever  cost  may  be  found  necessary. 


158 


THE  BLACK  WOMAN   OF  THE   SOUTH:     HER 
NEGLECTS  AND  HER  NEEDS* 

BY  ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL,  D.D.,  an  eminent  Negro  Episcopal  clergyman; 
a  graduate  of  Oxford  University,  England;  professor  in  a  Liberian  College; 
rector  of  St.  Luke's  in  Washington  and  founder  of  the  Negro  Academy. 

It  is  an  age  clamorous  everywhere  for  the  dignities, 
the  grand  prerogatives,  and  the  glory  of  woman.  There 
is  not  a  country  in  Europe  where  she  has  not  risen  some 
what  above  the  degradation  of  centuries,  and  pleaded 
successfully  for  a  new  position  and  a  higher  vocation. 
As  the  result  of  this  new  reformation  we  see  her,  in  our 
day,  seated  in  the  lecture-rooms  of  ancient  universities, 
rivaling  her  brothers  in  the  fields  of  literature,  the  grand 
creators  of  ethereal  art,  the  participants  in  noble  civil 
franchises,  the  moving  spirit  in  grand  reformations,  and 
the  guide,  agent,  or  assistant  in  all  the  noblest  movements 
for  the  civilization  and  regeneration  of  man. 

In  these  several  lines  of  progress  the  American  woman 
has  run  on  in  advance  of  her  sisters  in  every  other  quarter 
of  the  globe.  The  advantage,  she  has  received,  the  rights 
and  prerogatives  she  has  secured  for  herself,  are  unequaled 
by  any  other  class  of  women  in  the  world.  It  will  not  be 

*  Address  before  the  "  Freedman's  Aid  Society,"  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  August  isth,  1883. 

159 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

thought  amiss,  then,  that  I  come  here  to-day  to  present 
to  your  consideration  the  one  grand  exception  to  this 
general  superiority  of  women,  viz.,  The  black  woman  of 

the  South. 

*  *    *    *    * 

The  rural  or  plantation  population  of  the  South  was 
made  up  almost  entirely  of  people  of  pure  Negro  blood. 
And  this  brings  out  also  the  other  disastrous  fact,  namely, 
that  this  large  black  population  has  been  living  from  the 
time  of  their  introduction  into  America,  a  period  of  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  in  a  state  of  unlettered  rudeness. 
The  Negro  all  this  time  has  been  an  intellectual  starveling. 
This  has  been  more  especially  the  condition  of  the  black 
woman  of  the  South.  Now  and  then  a  black  man  has 
risen  above  the  debased  condition  of  his  people.  Various 
causes  would  contribute  to  the  advantage  of  the  men: 
the  relation  of  servants  to  superior  masters;  attendance 
at  courts  with  them;  their  presence  at  political  meetings; 
listening  to  table-talk  behind  their  chairs;  traveling  as 
valets;  the  privilege  of  books  and  reading  hi  great  houses, 
and  with  indulgent  masters — all  these  served  to  lift  up  a 
black  man  here  and  there  to  something  like  superiority. 
But  no  such  fortune  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  plantation 
woman.  The  black  woman  of  the  South  was  left  per 
petually  in  a  state  of  hereditary  darkness  and  rudeness. 

*  *    *    *    * 

In  her  girlhood  all  the  delicate  tenderness  of  her  sex 
was  rudely  outraged.  In  the  field,  in  the  rude  cabin, 
hi  the  press-room,  in  the  factory,  she  was  thrown  into 
the  companionship  of  coarse  and  ignorant  men.  No 

160 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

chance  was  given  her  for  delicate  reserve  or  tender 
modesty.  From  her  girlhood  she  was  the  doomed  victim 
of  the  grossest  passions.  All  the  virtues  of  her  sex  were 
utterly  ignored.  If  the  instinct  of  chastity  asserted  itself, 
then  she  had  to  fight  like  a  tigress  for  the  ownership  and 
possession  of  her  own  person;  and,  ofttimes,  had  to  suffer 
pains  and  lacerations  for  her  virtuous  self-assertion. 
When  she  reached  maturity  all  the  tender  instincts  of 
her  womanhood  were  ruthlessly  violated.  At  the  age  of 
marriage — always  prematurely  anticipated  under  slavery 
— she  was  mated,  as  the  stock  of  the  plantation  were 
mated,  not  to  be  the  companion  of  a  loved  and  chosen 
husband,  but  to  be  the  breeder  of  human  cattle,  for  the 
field  or  the  auction-block.  With  that  mate  she  went  out, 
morning  after  morning  to  toil,  as  a  common  field-hand. 
As  it  was  his,  so  likewise  was  it  her  lot  to  wield  the  heavy 
hoe,  or  to  follow  the  plow,  or  to  gather  in  the  crops. 
She  was  a  "hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer  of  water. "  She 
was  a  common  field-hand.  She  had  to  keep  her  place  in 
the  gang  from  morn  till  eve,  under  the  burden  of  a  heavy 
task,  or  under  the  stimulus  or  the  fear  of  a  cruel  lash. 
She  was  a  picker  of  cotton.  She  labored  at  the  sugar-mill 
and  in  the  tobacco-factory.  When,  through  weariness 
or  sickness,  she  has  fallen  behind  her  allotted  task,  there 
came,  as  punishment,  the  fearful  stripes  upon  her  shrink 
ing,  lacerated  flesh. 

Her  home  life  was  of  the  most  degrading  nature. 
She  lived  in  the  rudest  huts,  and  partook  of  the  coarsest 
food,  and  dressed  in  the  scantiest  garb,  and  slept,  in 
multitudinous  cabins,  upon  the  hardest  boards. 

161 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Thus  she  continued  a  beast  of  burden  down  to  the 
period  of  those  maternal  anxieties  which,  in  ordinary 
civilized  life,  give  repose,  quiet,  and  care  to  expectant 
mothers.  But,  under  the  slave  system,  few  such  relax 
ations  were  allowed.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  little 
children  were  ushered  into  this  world  under  conditions 
which  many  cattle-raisers  would  not  suffer  for  their 
flecks  or  herds.  Thus  she  became  the  mother  of  children. 
But  even  then  there  was  for  her  no  suretyship  of  mother 
hood,  or  training,  or  control.  Her  own  offspring  were  not 
her  own.  She  and  husband  and  children  were  all  the 
property  of  others.  All  these  sacred  ties  were  constantly 
snapped  and  cruelly  sundered.  This  year  she  had  one 
husband;  and  next  year,  through  some  auction  sale,  she 
might  be  separated  from  him  and  mated  to  another. 
There  was  no  sanctity  of  family,  no  binding  tie  of  mar 
riage,  none  of  the  fine  felicities  and  the  endearing  affec 
tions  of  home.  None  of  these  things  was  the  lot  of 
Southern  black  women.  Instead  thereof,  a  gross  barbar 
ism  which  tended  to  blunt  the  tender  sensibilities,  to 
obliterate  feminine  delicacy  and  womanly  shame,  came 
down  as  her  heritage  from  generation  to  generation;  and 
it  seems  a  miracle  of  providence  and  grace  that,  notwith 
standing  these  terrible  circumstances,  so  much  struggling 
virtue  lingered  amid  these  rude  cabins,  that  so  much 
womanly  worth  and  sweetness  abided  in  their  bosoms, 
as  slave-holders  themselves  have  borne  witness  to. 

But  some  of  you  will  ask:  "Why  bring  up  these  sad 
memories  of  the  past?  Why  distress  us  with  these  dead 

162 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

and  departed  cruelties?"     Alas,  my  friends,  these  are 
not  dead  things.    Remember  that 

"The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them." 

The  evil  of  gross  and  monstrous  abominations,  the 
evil  of  great  organic  institutions  crop  out  long  after  the 
departure  of  the  institutions  themselves.  If  you  go  to 
Europe  you  will  find  not  only  the  roots,  but  likewise 
many  of  the  deadly  fruits  of  the  old  Feudal  system  still 
surviving  in  several  of  its  old  states  and  kingdoms.  So, 
too,  with  slavery.  The  eighteen  years  of  freedom  have 
not  obliterated  all  its  deadly  marks  from  either  the  souls 
or  bodies  of  the  black  woman.  The  conditions  of  life? 
indeed,  have  been  modified  since  emancipation;  but  it 
still  maintains  that  the  black  woman  is  the  Pariah  woman 
of  this  land!  We  have,  indeed,  degraded  women,  immi 
grants,  from  foreign  lands.  In  their  own  countries  some 
of  them  were  so  low  in  the  social  scale  that  they  were 
yoked  with  the  cattle  to  plow  the  fields.  They  were  rude, 
unlettered,  coarse,  and  benighted.  But  when  they  reach 
this  land  there  comes  an  end  to  their  degraded  condition. 

"They  touch  our  country  and  their  shackles  fall." 

As  soon  as  they  become  grafted  into  the  stock  of 
American  life  they  partake  at  once  of  all  its  large  gifts 
and  its  noble  resources. 

Not  so  with  the  black  woman  of  the  South.  Freed, 
legally  she  has  been;  but  the  act  of  emancipation  had  no 
talismanic  influence  to  reach  to  and  alter  and  transform 
her  degrading  social  life. 

163 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

When  that  proclamation  was  issued  she  might  have 
heard  the  whispered  words  in  her  every  hut,  "Open, 
Sesame;"  but,  so  far  as  her  humble  domicile  and  her 
degraded  person  were  concerned,  there  was  no  invisible 
but  gracious  Genii  who,  on  the  instant,  could  transmute 
the  rudeness  of  her  hut  into  instant  elegance,  and  change 
the  crude  surroundings  of  her  home  into  neatness,  taste, 
and  beauty. 

The  truth  is,  "Emancipation  Day"  found  her  a  pros 
trate  and  degraded  being;  and,  although  it  has  brought 
numerous  advantages  to  her  sons,  it  has  produced  but 
the  simplest  changes  in  her  social  and  domestic  condi 
tion.  She  is  still  the  crude,  rude,  ignorant  mother. 
Remote  from  cities,  the  dweller  still  in  the  old  planta 
tion  hut,  neighboring  to  the  sulky,  disaffected  master 
class,  who  still  think  her  freedom  was  a  personal  robbery 
of  themselves,  none  of  the  "fair  humanities"  have  visited 
her  humble  home.  The  light  of  knowledge  has  not  fallen 
upon  her  eyes.  The  fine  domesticities  which  give  the 
charm  to  family  life,  and  which,  by  the  refinement  and 
delicacy  of  womanhood,  preserve  the  civilization  of 
nations,  have  not  come  to  her.  She  has  still  the  rude, 
coarse  labor  of  men.  With  her  rude  husband  she  still 
shares  the  hard  service  of  a  field-hand.  Her  house,  which 
shelters,  perhaps,  some  six  or  eight  children,  embraces 
but  two  rooms.  Her  furniture  is  of  the  rudest  kind.  The 
clothing  of  the  household  is  scant  and  of  the  coarsest 
material,  has  ofttimes  the  garniture  of  rags;  and  for  her 
self  and  offspring  is  marked,  not  seldom,  by  the  absence 
of  both  hats  and  shoes.  She  has  rarely  been  taught  to 

164 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

sew,  and  the  field  labor  of  slavery  times  has  kept  her 
ignorant  of  the  habitudes  of  neatness,  and  the  require 
ments  of  order.  Indeed,  coarse  food,  coarse  clothes, 
coarse  living,  coarse  manners,  coarse  companions,  coarse 
surroundings,  coarse  neighbors,  both  black  and  white, 
yea,  every  thing  coarse,  down  to  the  coarse,  ignorant, 
senseless  religion,  which  excites  her  sensibilities  and  starts 
her  passions,  go  to  make  up  the  life  of  the  masses  of  black 
women  in  the  hamlets  and  villages  of  the  rural  South. 

This  is  the  state  of  black  womanhood.  Take  the  girl 
hood  of  this  same  region,  and  it  presents  the  same  aspect, 
save  that  in  large  districts  the  white  man  has  not  for 
gotten  the  olden  times  of  slavery  and  with  indeed  the 
deepest  sentimental  abhorrence  of  "amalgamation," 
still  thinks  that  the  black  girl  is  to  be  perpetually  the 
victim  of  his  lust !  In  the  larger  towns  and  in  cities  our 
girls  in  common  schools  and  academies  are  receiving 
superior  culture.  Of  the  15,000  colored  school  teachers 
in  the  South,  more  than  half  are  colored  young  women, 
educated  since  emancipation.  But  even  these  girls,  as 
well  as  their  more  ignorant  sisters  in  rude  huts,  are  fol 
lowed  and  tempted  and  insulted  by  the  ruffianly  element 
of  Southern  society,  who  think  that  black  men  have  no 
rights  which  white  men  should  regard,  and  black  women  no 
virtue  which  white  men  should  respect! 

And  now  look  at  the  vastness  of  this  degradation.  If  I 
had  been  speaking  of  the  population  of  a  city,  or  a  town, 
or  even  a  village,  the  tale  would  be  a  sad  and  melancholy 
one.  But  I  have  brought  before  you  the  condition  of 
millions  of  women.  According  to  the  census  of  1880 

165 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

there  were,  in  the  Southern  States,  3,327,678  females  of 
all  ages  of  the  African  race.  Of  these  there  were  674,365 
girls  between  twelve  and  twenty,  1,522,696  between 
twenty  and  eighty.  "These  figures,7'  remarks  an  observ 
ing  friend  of  mine,  "  are  startling ! "  And  when  you  think 
that  the  masses  of  these  women  live  in  the  rural  districts; 
that  they  grow  up  in  rudeness  and  ignorance;  that  their 
former  masters  are  using  few  means  to  break  up  their 
hereditary  degradation,  you  can  easily  take  in  the  pitiful 
condition  of  this  population,  and  forecast  the  inevitable 
future  to  multitudes  of  females  unless  a  mighty  special 
effort  is  made  for  the  improvement  of  the  black  woman 
hood  of  the  South. 

I  know  the  practical  nature  of  the  American  mind,  I 
know  how  the  question  of  values  intrudes  itself  into  even 
the  domain  of  philanthropy;  and,  hence,  I  shall  not  be 
astonished  if  the  query  suggests  itself,  whether  special 
interest  hi  the  black  woman  will  bring  any  special  advan 
tage  to  the  American  nation. 

Let  me  dwell  for  a  few  moments  upon  this  phase  of 
the  subject.  Possibly  the  view  I  am  about  suggesting 
has  never  before  been  presented  to  the  American  mind. 
But,  Negro  as  I  am,  I  shall  make  no  apology  for  venturing 
the  claim  that  the  Negress  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
of  all  the  classes  of  women  on  the  globe.  I  am  speaking 
of  her,  not  as  a  perverted  and  degraded  creature,  but  in 
her  natural  state,  with  her  native  instincts  and  peculiar 
ities. 

Let  me  repeat  just  here  the  words  of  a  wise,  observ 
ing,  tender-hearted  philanthropist,  whose  name  and 

166 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

worth  and  words  have  attained  celebrity.  It  is  fully 
forty  years  ago  since  the  celebrated  Dr.  Charming  said: 
"We  are  holding  in  bondage  one  of  the  best  races  of  the 
human  family.  The  Negro  is  among  the  mildest,  gentlest 
of  men.  He  is  singularly  susceptible  of  improvement 
from  abroad.  .  .  .  His  nature  is  affectionate,  easily 
touched,  and  hence  he  is  more  open  to  religious  improve 
ment  than  the  white  man The  African 

carries  with  him  much  more  than  we  the  genius  of  a  meek, 
long-suffering,  loving  virtue. " 

I  should  feel  ashamed  to  allow  these  words  to  fall  from 
my  lips  if  it  were  not  necessary  to  the  lustration  of  the 
character  of  my  black  sisters  of  the  South.  I  do  not 
stand  here  to-day  to  plead  for  the  black  man.  He  is  a 
man ;  and  if  he  is  weak  he  must  go  the  wall.  He  is  a  man ; 
he  must  fight  his  own  way,  and  if  he  is  strong  in  mind  and 
body,  he  can  take  care  of  himself.  But  for  the  mothers, 
sisters,  and  daughters  of  my  race  I  have  a  right  to  speak. 
And  when  I  think  of  their  sad  condition  down  South; 
think,  too,  that  since  the  day  of  emancipation  hardly  any 
one  has  lifted  up  a  voice  in  their  behalf,  I  feel  it  a  duty 
and  a  privilege  to  set  forth  their  praises  and  to  extol  their 
excellencies.  For,  humble  and  benighted  as  she  is,  the 
black  woman  of  the  South  is  one  of  the  queens  of  woman 
hood.  If  there  is  any  other  woman  on  this  earth  who  in 
native  aboriginal  qualities  is  her  superior,  I  know  not 
where  she  is  to  be  found;  for,  I  do  say,  that  in  tenderness 
of  feeling,  in  genuine  native  modesty,  in  large  disinter 
estedness,  in  sweetness  of  disposition  and  deep  humility, 
in  unselfish  devotedness,  and  in  warm,  motherly  assi- 

167 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

duities,  the  Negro  woman  is  unsurpassed  by  any  other 
woman  on  this  earth. 

The  testimony  to  this  effect  is  almost  universal — our 
enemies  themselves  being  witnesses.  You  know  how 
widely  and  how  continuously,  for  generations,  the  Negro 
has  been  traduced,  ridiculed,  derided.  Some  of  you  may 
remember  the  journals  and  the  hostile  criticisms  of  Cole 
ridge  and  Trollope  and  Burton,  West  Indian  and  African 
travelers.  Very  many  of  you  may  remember  the  phil 
osophical  disquisitions  of  the  ethnological  school  of  1847, 
the  contemptuous  dissertations  of  Hunt  and  Gliddon. 
But  it  is  worthy  of  notice  in  all  the  se  cases  that  the  sneer, 
the  contempt,  the  bitter  gibe,  have  been  invariably  leveled 
against  the  black  man — never  against  the  black  woman! 
On  the  contrary,  she  has  almost  everywhere  been  extolled 
and  eulogized.  The  black  man  was  called  a  stupid,  thick- 
lipped,  flat-nosed,  long-heeled,  empty-headed  animal;  the 
link  between  the  baboon  and  the  human  being,  only  fit 
to  be  a  slave!  But  everywhere,  even  in  the  domains  of 
slavery,  how  tenderly  has  the  Negress  been  spoken  of! 
She  has  been  the  nurse  of  childhood.  To  her  all  the  cares 
and  heart-griefs  of  youth  have  been  intrusted.  Thou 
sands  and  tens  of  thousands  in  the  West  Indies  and  in 
our  Southern  States  have  risen  up  and  told  the  tale  of 
her  tenderness,  of  her  gentleness,  patience,  and  affection. 
No  other  woman  in  the  world  has  ever  had  such  tributes 
to  a  high  moral  nature,  sweet,  gentle  love,  and  unchanged 
devotedness.  And  by  the  memory  of  my  own  mother  and 
dearest  sisters  I  can  declare  it  to  be  true! 

Hear  the  tribute  of  Michelet:    "The  Negress,  of  all 

168 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

others,  is  the  most  loving,  the  most  generating;  and  this, 
not  only  because  of  her  youthful  blood,  but  we  must  also 
admit,  for  the  richness  of  her  heart.  She  is  loving  among 
the  loving,  good  among  the  good.  (Ask  the  travelers 
whom  she  has  so  often  saved.)  Goodness  is  creative; 
it  is  fruitfulness;  it  is  the  very  benediction  of  a  holy  act. 
The  fact  that  woman  is  so  fruitful  I  attribute  to  her  treas 
ures  of  tenderness,  to  that  ocean  of  goodness  which  per 
meates  her  heart.  .  .  .  Africa  is  a  woman.  Her  races 
are  feminine.  ...  In  many  of  the  black  tribes  of 
Central  Africa  the  women  rule,  and  they  are  as  intelligent 
as  they  are  amiable  and  kind. " 

The  reference  in  Michelet  to  the  generosity  of  the 
African  woman  to  travelers  brings  to  mind  the  incident 
in  Mungo  Park's  travels,  where  the  African  women  fed, 
nourished,  and  saved  him.  The  men  had  driven  him 
away.  They  would  not  even  allow  him  to  feed  with  the 
cattle;  and  so,  faint,  weary,  and  despairing,  he  went  to 
a  remote  hut  and  lay  down  on  the  earth  to  die.  One 
woman,  touched  with  compassion,  came  to  him,  brought 
him  food  and  milk,  and  at  once  he  revived.  Then  he 
tells  us  of  the  solace  and  the  assiduities  of  these  gentle 
creatures  for  his  comfort.  I  give  you  his  own  words: 
"The  rites  of  hospitality  thus  performed  toward  a  stranger 
in  distress,  my  worthy  benefactress,  pointing  to  the  mat, 
and  telling  me  that  I  might  sleep  there  without  apprehen 
sion,  called  to  the  female  part  of  her  family  which  had 
stood  gazing  on  me  all  the  while  in  fixed  astonishment, 
to  resume  the  task  of  spinning  cotton,  in  which  they 
continued  to  employ  themselves  a  great  part  of  the  night. 

169 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

They  lightened  their  labors  by  songs,  one  of  which  was 
composed  extempore,  for  I  was  myself  the  subject  of  it. 
It  was  sung  by  one  of  the  young  women,  the  rest  joining 
in  a  sort  of  chime.  The  air  was  sweet  and  plaintive,  and 
the  words,  literally  translated,  were  these:  'The  winds 
roared  and  the  rains  fell;  the  poor  white  man,  faint  and 
weary,  came  and  sat  under  our  tree.  He  has  no  mother 
to  bring  him  milk,  no  wife  to  grind  his  corn.  Let  us  pity 
the  white  man,  no  mother  has  he/"  etc. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  pardoned  the  intrusion,  just  here, 
on  my  own  personal  experience.  During  a  residence  of 
nigh  twenty  years  in  West  Africa,  I  saw  the  beauty  and 
felt  the  charm  of  the  native  female  character.  I  saw  the 
native  woman  in  her  heathen  state,  and  was  delighted  to 
see,  in  numerous  tribes,  that  extraordinary  sweetness, 
gentleness,  docility,  modesty,  and  especially  those  mater 
nal  solicitudes  which  make  every  African  boy  both  gallant 
and  defender  of  his  mother. 

I  saw  her  in  her  civilized  state,  in  Sierra  Leone;  saw 
precisely  the  same  characteristics,  but  heightened,  dig 
nified,  refined,  and  sanctified  by  the  training  of  the 
schools,  the  refinements  of  civilization,  and  the  graces 
of  Christian  sentiment  and  feeling.  Of  all  the  memories 
of  foreign  travel  there  are  none  more  delightful  than 
those  of  the  families  and  the  female  friends  of  Freetown. 

A  French  traveler  speaks  with  great  admiration  of 
the  black  ladies  of  Hayti.  "In  the  towns,"  he  says, 
''I  met  all  the  charms  of  civilized  life.  The  graces  of  the 
ladies  of  Port-au-Prince  will  never  be  effaced  from  my 
recollections. " 

170 


ALEXANDER  CRUMMELL 

It  was,  without  doubt,  the  instant  discernment  of 
these  fine  and  tender  qualities  which  prompted  the  touch 
ing  Sonnet  of  Wordsworth,  written  in  1802,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  the  cruel  exile  of  Negroes  from  France  by  the 
French  Government: 

"Driven  from  the  soil  of  France,  a  female  came 

From  Calais  with  us,  brilliant  in  array, 

A  Negro  woman  like  a  lady  gay, 
Yet  downcast  as  a  woman  fearing  blame; 

Meek,  destitute,  as  seemed,  of  hope  or  aim 

She  sat,  from  notice  turning  not  away, 
But  on  all  proffered  intercourse  did  lay 

A  weight  of  languid  speech — or  at  the  same 
Was  silent,  motionless  in  eyes  and  face. 

Meanwhile  those  eyes  retained  their  tropic  fire 
Which  burning  independent  of  the  mind, 

Joined  with  the  luster  of  her  rich  attire 
To  mock  the  outcast — O  ye  heavens,  be  kind! 
And  feel,  thou  earth,  for  this  afflicted  race!" 

But  I  must  remember  that  I  am  to  speak  not  only  of 
the  neglects  of  the  black  woman,  but  also  of  her  needs. 
And  the  consideration  of  her  needs  suggests  the  remedy 
which  should  be  used  for  the  uplifting  of  this  woman 
from  a  state  of  brutality  and  degradation. 
***** 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  since  the  day  of  emancipation 
millions  of  dollars  have  been  given  by  the  generous 
Christian  people  of  the  North  for  the  intellectual  train 
ing  of  the  black  race  in  this  land.  Colleges  and  univer 
sities  have  been  built  in  the  South,  and  hundreds  of 
youth  have  been  gathered  within  their  walls.  The  work 

171 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  your  own  Church  in  this  regard  has  been  magnificent 
and  unrivaled,  and  the  results  which  have  been  attained 
have  been  grand  and  elevating  to  the  entire  Negro  race 
in  America.  The  complement  to  all  this  generous  and 
ennobling  effort  is  the  elevation  of  the  black  woman. 
Up  to  this  day  and  time  your  noble  philanthropy  has 
touched,  for  the  most  part,  the  male  population  of  the 
South,  given  them  superiority,  and  stimulated  them  to 
higher  aspirations.  But  a  true  civilization  can  only  then 
be  attained  when  the  life  of  woman  is  reached,  her  whole 
being  permeated  by  noble  ideas,  her  fine  taste  enriched 
by  culture,  her  tendencies  to  the  beautiful  gratified  and 
developed,  her  singular  and  delicate  nature  lifted  up  to 
its  full  capacity;  and  then,  when  all  these  qualities  are 
fully  matured,  cultivated  and  sanctified,  all  their  sacred 
influences  shall  circle  around  ten  thousand  firesides,  and 
the  cabins  of  the  humblest  freedmen  shall  become  the 
homes  of  Christian  refinement  and  of  domestic  elegance 
through  the  influence  and  the  charm  of  the  uplifted  and 
cultivated  black  woman  of  the  South! 


172 


AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO  THE  EDUCATIONAL 
LEAGUE  OF  GEORGIA* 

BY  JOSEPHINE  ST.  PIERRE  RUFFIN,  of  Boston,  Mass. 

Founder  of  the  National  Association  of  Negro  Women 

Ladies  of  the  Georgia  Educational  League: 

The  telegram  which  you  sent  to  Governor  Northern  to 
read  to  his  audience,  informing  the  people  of  the  North 
of  your  willingness  to  undertake  the  moral  training  of 
the  colored  children  of  Georgia,  merits  more  than  a  pass 
ing  notice.  It  is  the  first  time,  we  believe,  in  the  history 
of  the  South  where  a  body  of  representative  Southern 
white  women  have  shown  such  interest  in  the  moral 
welfare  of  the  children  of  their  former  slaves  as  to  be 
willing  to  undertake  to  make  them  more  worthy  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  True,  there  have  been 
individual  cases  where  courageous  women  have  felt  their 
moral  responsibility,  and  have  nobly  met  it,  but  one  of 
the  saddest  things  about  the  sad  condition  of  affairs  in 
the  South  has  been  the  utter  indifference  which  Southern 
women,  who  were  guarded  with  unheard  of  fidelity  during 
the  war,  have  manifested  to  the  mental  and  moral  welfare 
of  the  children  of  their  faithful  slaves,  who,  in  the  lan- 

*June,  1889. 

173 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

guage  of  Henry  Grady,  placed  a  black  mass  of  loyalty 
between  them  and  dishonor.  This  was  a  rare  opportunity 
for  you  to  have  shown  your  gratitude  to  your  slaves 
and  your  interest  in  their  future  welfare. 

The  children  would  have  grown  up  in  utter  ignorance 
had  not  the  North  sent  thousands  of  her  noblest  daughters 
to  the  South  on  this  mission  of  heroic  love  and  mercy; 
and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  of  those  fair  daughters  of 
the  North,  that,  often  eating  with  Negroes,  and  hi  the  ear 
lier  days  sleeping  in  their  humble  cabins,  and  always 
surrounded  by  thousands  of  them,  there  is  not  one  re 
corded  instance  where  one  has  been  the  victim  of  violence 
or  insult.  If  because  of  the  bitterness  of  your  feelings,  of 
your  deep  poverty  at  the  close  of  the  war,  conditions 
were  such  that  you  could  not  do  this  work  yourselves, 
you  might  have  give  a  Christian's  welcome  to  the  women 
who  came  a  thousand  miles  to  do  the  work,  that,  in  all 
gratitude  and  obligation  belonged  to  you, — but  instead, 
these  women  were  often  persecuted,  always  they  have 
been  ruthlessly  ostracised,  even  until  this  day;  often 
they  were  lonely,  often  longed  for  a  word  of  sympathy, 
often  craved  association  with  their  own  race,  but  for 
thirty  years  they  have  been  treated  by  the  Christian 
white  women  of  the  South, — simply  because  they  were 
doing  your  work, — the  work  committed  to  you  by  your 
Saviour,  when  he  said,  "Inasmuch  as  you  did  it  to  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  you  did  it  unto  me," — 
with  a  contempt  that  would  serve  to  justify  a  suspicion 
that  instead  of  being  the  most  cultured  women,  the  purest, 

174 


JOSEPHINE  ST.  PIERRE  RUFFIN 

bravest  missionaries  in  America,  they  were  outcasts  and 
lepers. 

But  at  last  a  change  has  come.  And  so  you  have 
"decided  to  take  up  the  work  of  moral  and  industrial 
training  of  the  Negroes,"  as  you  "have  been  doing 
this  work  among  the  whites  with  splendid  results." 
This  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  stars  that  have  shot 
through  the  darkness  of  the  Southern  sky.  What  un 
told  blessings  might  not  the  educated  Christian  women  of 
the  South  prove  to  the  Negro  groping  blindly  in  the  dark 
ness  of  the  swamps  and  bogs  of  prejudice  for  a  highway 

out  of  servitude,  oppression,  ignorance,  and  immorality! 
***** 

The  leading  women  of  Georgia  should  not  ask  North 
ern  charity  to  do  what  they  certainly  must  have  the  means 
for  making  a  beginning  of  themselves.  If  your  heart  is 
really  in  this  work — and  we  do  not  question  it — the  very 
best  way  for  you  to  atone  for  your  negligence  in  the  past 
is  to  make  a  start  yourselves.  Surely  if  the  conditions 
are  as  serious  as  you  represent  them  to  be,  your  hus 
bands,  who  are  men  of  large  means,  who  are  able  to  run 
great  expositions  and  big  peace  celebrations,  will  be 
willing  to  provide  you  with  the  means  to  protect  your 
virtue  and  that  of  your  daughters  by  the  moral  train 
ing  you  propose  to  give  in  the  kindergartens. 

There  is  much  you  might  do  without  the  contribution 
of  a  dollar  from  any  pocket,  Northern  or  Southern. 
On  every  plantation  there  are  scores,  if  not  hundreds, 
of  little  colored  children  who  could  be  gathered  about 

175 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

you  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon  and  given  many  helpful 
inspiring  lessons  in  morals  and  good  conduct. 

*     *     *     *     * 

It  is  a  good  augury  of  better  days,  let  us  hope,  when 
the  intelligent,  broad-minded  women  of  Georgia,  spurning 
the  incendiary  advice  of  that  human  firebrand  who  would 
lynch  a  thousand  Negroes  a  month,  are  willing  to  join 
in  this  great  altruistic  movement  of  the  age  and  endeavor 
to  lift  up  the  degraded  and  ignorant,  rather  than  to 
exterminate  them.  Your  proposition  implies  that  they 
may  be  uplifted  and  further,  imports  a  tacit  confession 
that  if  you  had  done  your  duty  to  them  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  which  both  gratitude  and  prudence  should 
have  prompted  you  to  do,  you  would  not  now  be  con 
fronted  with  a  condition  which  you  feel  it  necessary  to 
check,  in  obedience  to  the  great  first  law  of  nature — 
self-protection.  If  you  enter  upon  this  work  you  will 
doubtless  be  criticised  by  a  class  of  your  own  people 
who  think  you  are  lowering  your  own  dignity,  but  the 
South  has  suffered  too  much  already  from  that  kind  of 
false  pride  to  let  it  longer  keep  her  recreant  to  the  spirit 
of  the  age. 

If,  when  you  have  entered  upon  it,  you  need  the  co 
operation,  either  by  advice  or  other  assistance,  of  the 
colored  women  of  the  North,  we  beg  to  assure  you  that 
they  will  not  be  lacking, — until  then,  the  earnest  hope 
goes  out  that  you  will  bravely  face  and  sternly  conquer 
your  former  prejudices  and  quickly  undertake  this 
missionary  work  which  belongs  to  you. 


176 


IN  THE  WAKE  OF  THE  COMING  AGES* 
BY  J.  MADISON  VANCE,  of  New  Orleans,  La. 

In  these  trying  times  of  peace  with  tears  of  blood; 
these  times  of  crimes  so  horrible  and  fiendish  that  Chris 
tianity  bows  in  supplication  for  surcease  of  sorrow,  and 
the  advance  of  civilization  seems  in  vain;  in  these  times 
when  the  Negro  is  compared  to  the  brute,  and  his  mental 
ity  limited  to  the  ordinary;  in  these  times  when  the  holy 
robes  of  the  Church  are  used  to  decry,  villify  and  malign 
the  race;  in  these  times  when  the  subsidized  press  of  the 
country  loudly  proclaims  the  Negro's  incapacity  for 
government;  in  these  times  I  turn  with  pardonable  pride 
to  the  Grand  United  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  an  organiza 
tion  the  affairs  of  which  are  administered  entirely  by 
colored  men,  an  organization  that  typifies  the  possibilites 
of  the  race;  the  organization  whose  very  existence  gives 
the  lie  to  the  damnable  aspersions  cast  upon  us  by  the 
enemies  of  humanity. 

This  grand  organization  is  but  a  collection  of  individ 
uals,  and  as  individuals  we  must  shape  our  destiny.  The 
time  is  past  for  pleading;  these  are  days  of  action.  The 
higher  we  rise,  the  sharper  will  become  the  prejudice  of 

*Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  Music  Hall,  Boston,  Mass., 
October  4,  1894,  before  the  Seventh  Biennial  Meeting  of  the  Grand  United 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  of  America. 

177 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

color.  The  laboring  white  is  jealous  of  the  competition 
of  the  blacks.  The  problem  is  to  be  worked  out  in  the 
South,  and  largely  by  ourselves.  With  all  the  disadvan 
tages  and  prescriptive  doctrines  that  encroach  upon  us  in 
that  Southland,  I  honestly  believe  that  this  land  with  all 
its  natural  beauties  and  advantages,  this  land  below  the 
mountains;  this  land  of  passion  and  pleasure,  of  fever  and 
fret,  this  land  famed  in  history,  song,  and  story  as  the 
"land  of  Dixie,"  is  the  Negro's  coming  Arcadia.  From 
its  lowlands  and  marshes  will  yet  come  forth  the  peerless 
leader,  who  will  not  only  point  out  the  way,  but  will 
climb  the  battlements  of  tolerance  and  race  prejudice, 
backed  by  the  march  of  civilization,  and,  with  his  face  to 
the  enemy,  fight  the  battle  of  common  humanity. 

The  romance  of  "Emancipation"  is  fading  out.  The 
old  slave  is  rapidly  passing.  The  mythology  of  his  period 
is  extinct.  The  Republic  has  declared  against  the  "Force 
Bill. "  The  "Praetorian  Guard  "  is  mustered  out,  and  the 
sentiment  of  the  times  is  against  paternalism.  "Every 
tub  must  stand  on  its  own  bottom,"  and  the  eloquence  of 
the  orator  cannot  arrest  the  trend  of  the  times.  A  prob 
lem  is  half  solved  when  facts  are  apprehended;  it  is  more 
than  half  solved  when  the  facts  are  comprehended,  and 
practical  sense  succeeds  sentiment. 

The  Negro  confronts  destiny.  He  must  be  the  archi 
tect  of  his  own  fortune.  He  must  demonstrate  capacity 
and  independence,  because  mendicancy  is  always  destruc 
tive.  The  living  present  calls  us  away  from  the  ashes  of 
the  dead  and  buried  past.  Our  hopes  are  brighter  and 
our  ambitions  higher.  Let  us  stand  on  our  own  racial 

178 


JAMES  MADISON  VANCE 

pride,  and  prove  our  claim  for  equality  by  showing  the 
fruits  of  thrift,  talent,  and  frugality.  The  brotherhood 
of  genius  will  not  refuse  the  need  of  merit,  and  within  the 
sweep  of  our  constant  observations  great  artists,  musi 
cians,  poets,  and  orators  are  more  than  hinted  possibilities. 
We  would  be  criminals  to  despair.  The  Negro  is  here,  and 
here  to  stay,  and  traveling  rapidly  in  "the  wake  of  coming 
ages."  We  know  not  how  far  the  goal  may  still  be  distant, 
but  at  least  we  think  we  see  it  and  our  most  fervent  hope 
is  to  approach  it  more  and  more  nearly — 

"Till  each  man  find  his  own  in  all  men's  good, 
And  all  men  work  in  noble  brotherhood, 
Breaking  their  mailed  fleets  and  armed  towers, 
And  ruling  by  obeying  nature's  powers, 

And  gathering  all  the  fruits  of  earth  and  crowned  with  her 
flowers." 

As  the  shadows  come  creeping  over  the  dial  of  time, 
the  nineteenth  century  faces  the  setting  sun;  a  century 
replete  with  the  grandest  inventions  of  modern  times, 
and  with  a  fulness  of  scientific  investigation  beyond  the 
possible  conception  of  man  one  hundred  years  ago.  This 
century  has  emancipated  woman,  and  like  the  "Dreamers 
on  the  brow  of  Parnassus,"  she  is  not  forgetful  of  the 
toilers  on  other  altitudes  within  the  horizon's  rim.  She 
is  not  blind  to  the  signal  lights,  which  in  their  blaze 
proclaim  new  knowledge,  new  power  for  man,  new  tri 
umphs,  new  glory  for  the  human  spirit  in  its  march  on 
chaos  and  the  dark.  Any  message  of  love  would  be 
incomplete  without  her  gentle  voice.  Her  love  is  her 

179 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

life,  white-winged  and  eternal.  Her  welcome  is  sponta 
neous,  fervid,  whole-souled,  generous.  Her  influence  is 
felt  everywhere,  throughout  the  ramifications  of  our 
"Order."  The  wholesome  power  of  her  persuasive 
counsel  is  of ttimes  needed,  and  the  tender  mercies  of  her 
tireless  devotion  have  smoothed  away  the  grim  visage  of 
discontent,  brought  solace  to  the  fevered  brain,  and  made 
peaceful  that  dreary  journey  from  life  to  death. 
***** 

We  look  out  upon  our  vast  army  of  followers,  and 
glory  in  our  stalwart  band.  *****  o^  of  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  imposing  in  our  numbers,  stand  we 
forth,  splendid  and  terrible,  in  "The  Wake  of  the  Coming 
Ages."  And  when  we  look  at  all  the  magnificent  fabric 
we  call  civilization,  its  incalculable  material,  its  wealth, 
its  amazing  mechanical  resources,  its  wonderful  scientific 
discoveries,  its  many-sided  literature,  its  sleepless  and 
ubiquitous  journalism,  its  lovely  art,  its  abounding 
charities,  its  awful  fears  and  sublime  hopes,  we  get  a 
magnificent  conception  of  the  possibilities  of  life,  as  this 
latest  of  the  centuries  draws  its  purple  robe  about  its 
majestic  form  and  stands  up  to  die  as  the  old  Roman 
Csesar  stood,  in  all  the  magnificence  of  its  riches,  and  the 
plenitude  of  its  power. 

But  after  all,  the  measure  of  its  value  is  the  character 
of  it  humanity. 


ISO 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING 
OF  THE  COTTON  STATES  AND  INTERNA 
TIONAL  EXPOSITION* 

BY  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON,  A.  M.  LL.D. 

of  Tuskegee  Institute 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  and 
Citizens: 

One-third  of  the  population  of  the  South  is  of  the 
Negro  race.  No  enterprise  seeking  the  material,  civil,  or 
moral  welfare  of  this  section  can  disregard  this  element 
of  our  population  and  reach  the  highest  success.  I  but 
convey  to  you,  Mr.  President  and  Directors,  the  sentiment 
of  the  masses  of  my  race  when  I  say  that  in  no  way  have 
the  value  and  manhood  of  the  American  Negro  been 
more  fittingly  and  generously  recognized  than  by  the 
managers  of  this  magnificent  Exposition  at  every  stage 
of  its  progress.  It  is  a  recognition  that  will  do  more  to 
cement  the  friendship  of  the  two  races  than  any  occur 
rence  since  the  dawn  of  our  freedom. 

Not  only  this,  but  the  opportunity  here  afforded 
will  awaken  among  us  a  new  era  of  industrial  progress. 
Ignorant  and  inexperienced,  it  is  not  strange  that  in  the 
first  years  of  our  new  life  we  began  at  the  top  instead  of 
at  the  bottom;  that  a  seat  in  Congress  or  the  State  Leg- 

*  Atlanta,  Georgia,  September  18,  1895. 

181 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

islature  was  more  sought  than  real  estate  or  industrial 
skill;  that  the  political  convention  or  stump-speaking 
had  more  attractions  than  starting  a  dairy-farm  or  truck- 
garden. 

A  ship  lost  at  sea  for  many  days  suddenly  sighted  a 
friendly  vessel.  From  the  mast  of  the  unfortunate  ves 
sel  was  seen  a  signal:  "Water,  water;  we  die  of  thirst!" 
The  answer  from  the  friendly  vessel  at  once  came  back: 
"Cast  down  your  bucket  where  you  are."  A  second 
time  the  signal,  "Water,  water;  send  us  water!"  ran  up 
from  the  distressed  vessel,  and  was  answered:  "Cast 
down  your  bucket  where  you  are."  And  a  third  and 
fourth  signal  for  water  was  answered:  "Cast  down  your 
bucket  where  you  are."  The  captain  of  the  distressed 
vessel,  at  last  heeding  the  injunction,  cast  down  his 
bucket,  and  it  came  up  full  of  fresh,  sparkling  water  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  River.  To  those  of  my  race 
who  depend  on  bettering  their  condition  in  a  foreign 
land,  or  who  underestimate  the  importance  of  cultivating 
friendly  relations  with  the  Southern  white  man,  who  is 
their  next-door  neighbor,  I  would  say:  "Cast  down  your 
bucket  where  you  are" — cast  it  down  in  making  friends 
in  every  manly  way  of  the  people  of  all  races  by  whom 
we  are  surrounded. 

Cast  it  down  in  agriculture,  mechanics,  in  commerce, 
in  domestic  service,  and  in  the  professions.  And  in  this 
connection  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  whatever  other 
sins  the  South  may  be  called  to  bear,  when  it  comes  to 
business,  pure  and  simple,  it  is  in  the  South  that  the  Negro 
is  given  a  man's  chance  in  the  commercial  world,  and  in 

182 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

nothing  is  this  Exposition  more  eloquent  than  in  em 
phasizing  this  chance.  Our  greatest  danger  is,  that  in 
the  great  leap  from  slavery  to  freedom  we  may  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  masses  of  us  are  to  live  by  the  produc 
tions  of  our  hands,  and  fail  to  keep  in  mind  that  we  shall 
prosper  in  proportion  as  we  learn  to  dignify  and  glorify 
common  labor  and  put  brains  and  skill  into  the  common 
occupations  of  life;  shall  prosper  in  proportion  as  we  learn 
to  draw  the  line  between  the  superficial  and  the  sub 
stantial,  the  ornamental  gewgaws  of  life  and  the  useful. 
No  race  can  prosper  till  it  learns  that  there  is  as  much 
dignity  in  tilling  a  field  as  in  writing  a  poem.  It  is  at  the 
bottom  of  life  we  must  begin,  and  not  at  the  top.  Nor 
should  we  permit  our  grievances  to  overshadow  our  op 
portunities. 

To  those  of  the  white  race  who  look  to  the  incoming 
of  those  of  foreign  birth  and  strange  tongue  and  habits 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  South,  were  I  permitted  I  would 
repeat  what  I  say  to  my  own  race,  "Cast  down  your 
bucket  where  you  are."  Cast  it  down  among  the  8,000, 
ooo  Negroes  whose  habits  you  know,  whose  fidelity  and 
love  you  have  tested  in  days  when  to  have  proved  treach 
erous  meant  the  ruin  of  your  firesides.  Cast  down  your 
bucket  among  these  people  who  have,  without  strikes 
and  labor  wars,  tilled  your  fields,  cleared  your  forests, 
builded  your  railroads  and  cities,  and  brought  forth  treas 
ures  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and  helped  make  pos 
sible  this  magnificent  representation  of  the  progress  of 
the  South.  Casting  down  your  bucket  among  my  people, 
helping  and  encouraging  them  as  you  are  doing  on  these 

183 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

grounds,  and  to  education  of  head,  hand,  and  heart,  you 
will  find  that  they  will  buy  your  surplus  land,  make  blos 
som  the  waste  places  in  your  fields,  and  run  your  fac 
tories.  While  doing  this,  you  can  be  sure  in  the  future, 
as  in  the  past,  that  you  and  your  families  will  be  sur 
rounded  by  the  most  patient,  faithful,  law-abiding,  and 
unresentful  people  that  the  world  has  seen.  As  we  have 
proved  our  loyalty  to  you  in  the  past,  in  nursing  your 
children,  watching  by  the  sick-beds  of  your  mothers 
and  fathers,  and  often  following  them  with  tear-dimmed 
eyes  to  their  graves,  so  in  the  future,  in  our  humble  way, 
we  shall  stand  by  you  with  a  devotion  that  no  foreigner 
can  approach,  ready  to  lay  down  our  lives,  if  need  be,  in 
defense  of  yours,  interlacing  our  industrial,  commercial, 
civil,  and  religious  life  with  yours  in  a  way  that  shall 
make  the  interests  of  both  races  one.  In  all  things  that 
are  purely  social  we  can  be  as  separate  as  the  fingers,  yet 
one  as  the  hand  in  all  things  essential  to  mutual  progress. 

There  is  no  defense  or  security  for  any  of  us  except 
in  the  highest  intelligence  and  development  of  all.  If  any 
where  there  are  efforts  tending  to  curtail  the  fullest  growth 
of  the  Negro,  let  these  efforts  be  turned  into  stimulating, 
encouraging,  and  making  him  the  most  useful  and  intel 
ligent  citizen.  Efforts  or  means  so  invested  will  pay  a 
thousand  per  cent,  interest.  These  efforts  will  be  twice 
blessed — "blessing  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 

There  is  no  escape  through  law  of  man  or  God  from 
the  inevitable: 

"The  laws  of  changeless  justice  bind 

Oppressor  with  oppressed; 
And  close  as  sin  and  suffering  joined 
We  march  to  fate  abreast." 

184 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

Nearly  sixteen  millions  of  hands  will  aid  you  in  pulling 
the  load  upwards,  or  they  will  pull  against  you  the  load 
downwards.  We  shall  constitute  one-third  and  more  of 
the  ignorance  and  crime  of  the  South,  or  one-third  its 
intelligence  and  progress;  we  shall  contribute  one-third 
to  the  business  and  industrial  prosperity  of  the  South,  or 
we  shall  prove  a  veritable  body  of  death,  stagnating, 
depressing,  retarding  every  effort  to  advance  the  body 
politic. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Exposition,  as  we  present  to  you 
our  humble  effort  at  an  exhibition  of  our  progress,  you 
must  not  expect  overmuch.  Starting  thirty  years  ago 
with  ownership  here  and  there  in  a  few  quilts  and  pump 
kins  and  chickens,  remember  the  path,  that  has  led  from 
these  to  the  invention  and  production  of  agricultural 
implements,  buggies,  steam-engines,  newspapers,  books, 
statuary,  carving,  paintings,  the  management  of  drug 
stores  and  banks,  has  not  been  trodden  without  contact 
with  thorns  and  thistles.  While  we  take  pride  in  what 
we  exhibit  as  a  result  of  our  independent  efforts,  we  do 
not  for  a  moment  forget  that  our  part  in  this  exhibition 
would  fall  far  short  of  your  expectations  but  for  the  con 
stant  help  that  has  come  to  our  educational  life,  not  only 
from  the  Southern  States,  but  especially  from  Northern 
philanthropists,  who  have  made  their  gifts  a  constant 
stream  of  blessing  and  encouragement. 

The  wisest  among  my  race  understand  that  the  agita 
tion  of  questions  of  social  equality  is  the  extremest  folly, 
and  that  progress  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges 
that  will  come  to  us  must  be  the  result  of  severe  and  con- 

185 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

stant  struggle  rather  than  of  artificial  forcing.  No  race 
that  has  anything  to  contribute  to  the  markets  of  the 
world  is  long  in  any  degree  ostracized.  It  is  important 
and  right  that  all  privileges  of  the  law  be  ours,  but  it  is 
vastly  more  important  that  we  be  prepared  for  the 
exercises  of  these  privileges.  The  opportunity  to  earn  a 
dollar  in  a  factory  just  now  is  worth  infinitely  more  than 
the  opportunity  to  spend  a  dollar  in  an  opera-house. 
In  conclusion,  may  I  repeat  that  nothing  in  thirty 
years  has  given  us  more  hope  and  encouragement,  and 
drawn  us  so  near  to  you  of  the  white  race,  as  this  oppor 
tunity  offered  by  the  Exposition;  and  here  bending,  as  it 
were,  over  the  altar  that  represents  the  results  of  the 
struggles  of  your  race  and  mine,  both  starting  practically 
empty-handed  three  decades  ago,  I  pledge  that  in  your 
effort  to  work  out  the  great  and  intricate  problem  which 
God  has  laid  at  the  doors  of  the  South  you  shall  have  at 
all  tunes  the  patient,  sympathetic  help  of  my  race;  only 
let  this  be  constantly  in  the  mind  that,  while  from  re 
presentations  in  these  buildings  of  the  product  of  field, 
of  forest,  of  mine,  of  factory,  letters,  and  art,  much  good 
will  come,  yet  far  above  and  beyond  material  benefits 
will  be  that  higher  good,  that  let  us  pray  God  will  come, 
in  a  blotting  out  of  sectional  differences  and  racial  ani 
mosities  and  suspicions,  in  a  determination  to  administer 
absolute  justice,  in  a  willing  obedience  among  all  classes 
to  the  mandates  of  law.  This,  this,  coupled  with  our 
material  prosperity,  will  bring  into  our  beloved  Southland 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth. 


186 


THE  NEGRO  AS  A  SOLDIER* 
BY  CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD,  Sergeant-Major,  United  States  Volunteer  In 
fantry,  1863-1866.  Received  a  Medal  of  Honor  from  Congress  for  meritorious 
action  in  saving  the  colors  at  Chapin  Farm,  September  29,  1864,  where  he  seized 
them  after  two  color-bearers  had  been  shot  down,  and  bore  them  throughout  the  fight. 
Also  has  a  General  B.  F.  Butler  Medal  for  bravery  and  courage  before  Richmond. 

For  1600  years  prior  to  the  war  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonies,  the  pages  of  history  bear  no  record  of 
the  Negro  as  a  soldier.  Tracing  his  separate  history  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  is  a  task  of  much  difficulty,  for 
the  reason  that  while  individual  instances  of  valor  and 
patriotism  abound,  there  were  so  few  separate  bodies  of 
Negro  troops  that  no  separate  record  appears  to  have 
been  made.  The  simple  fact  is  that  the  fathers  as  a  rule 
enlisted  men  both  for  the  Army  and  Navy,  just  as  now  it 
is  only  continued  by  the  Navy ;  that  is  to  say,  they  were 
assigned  wherever  needed,  without  regard  to  race  or  color. 
Varner's  Rhode  Island  Battalion  appears  to  have  been 
the  only  large  aggregation  of  Negroes  in  this  war,  though 
Connecticut,  New  York,  and  New  Hampshire  each  fur 
nished  one  separate  company  in  addition  to  individuals 
scattered  through  their  other  organizations,  so  that  ere 
the  close  of  the  war,  there  were  very  few  brigades,  reg- 

*  Delivered  at  the  Negro  Congress,  at  the  Cotton  States  and  International 
Exposition,  Atlanta  Ga.,  November  n  to  November  23, 1895. 

187 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

iments,  or  companies  in  which  the  Negro  was  not  in 
evidence. 

The  free  Negro  appears  to  have  gone  in  from  the 
beginning  without  attracting  or  calling  out  special  com 
ment.  Later,  as  men  grew  scarcer  and  necessity  more 
pressing,  slaves  were  taken  in  also,  and  then  the  trouble 
began.  Those  who  held  slaves  did  not  care  to  lose  them 
in  this  way.  Others  who  had  not  did  not  think  it  just  the 
thing  in  a  war  for  avowed  freedom  to  place  an  actual  slave 
in  the  ranks  to  fight.  Some  did  not  want  the  Negro, 
bonded  or  free,  to  take  part  as  a  soldier  in  the  struggle. 
So  that  in  May,  1775,  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of 
Safety  voted  that  thereafter  only  free  men  should  be 
enlisted.  In  July,  General  Gates  issued  an  order  prohib 
iting  further  enlistments  of  Negroes,  but  saying  nothing 
of  those  already  in  the  service. 

In  October  a  council  of  war  presided  over  by  General 
Washington,  comprising  three  major-generals  and  six 
brigadier-generals,  voted  unanimously  against  the  enlist 
ment  of  slaves,  and  by  a  decided  majority  against  further 
enlistments  of  Negroes.  Ten  days  later  in  a  conference 
held  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  participated  in  by  General 
Washington,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Benjamin  Harrison, 
Thomas  Lynch,  and  the  deputy  governors  of  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island,  a  similar  action  was  taken. 

On  the  7th  November,  1775,  Earl  Dundore,  com 
manding  the  force  of  His  Majesty  the  King,  issued  a 
proclamation  offering  freedom  and  equal  pay  to  all  slaves 
who  would  join  his  armies  as  soldiers.  It  did  not  take 
the  colonists  long  to  find  out  their  mistake,  although 

188 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

General  Washington,  in  accordance  with  the  expressed 
will  of  his  officers  and  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  did  on 
the  i yth  of  November,  1775,  *ssue  a  proclamation  forbid 
ding  the  further  enlistment  of  Negroes.  Less  than  two 
months  later,  that  is  to  say  on  the  3oth  of  December, 
1775,  he  issued  a  second  proclamation  again  authorizing 
the  enlistment  of  free  Negroes.  He  advised  Congress  of 
his  action,  and  stated  that  he  would  recall  it  if  so  directed. 
But  he  was  not.  The  splendid  service  rendered  by  the 
Negro  and  the  great  and  pressing  need  of  men  were  such, 
that  although  the  opposition  continued  from  some  sec 
tions,  it  was  not  thereafter  strong  enough  to  obtain 
recognition.  So  the  Negroes  went  and  came,  much  as 
other  men. 

In  all  the  events  of  the  war,  from  Bunker  Hill  to  York- 
town,  they  bore  an  honorable  part.  The  history  of  the 
doings  of  the  armies  is  their  history,  as  in  everything  they 
took  part  and  did  their  share.  Their  total  enlistment  was 
about  3,000  men, — a  very  fair  percentage  for  the  popula 
tion  of  that  period.  I  might  instance  the  killing  of  Major 
Pitcairn,  at  Bunker  Hill,  by  Peter  Salem,  and  of  Major 
Montgomery,  at  Fort  Griswold,  by  Jordan  Freeman. 
The  part  they  took  in  the  capture  of  Major-General 
Prescott  at  Newport;  their  gallant  defense  of  Colonel 
Greene,  their  beloved  commander,  when  he  was  surprised 
and  murdered  at  Croton  River,  May  13,  1781,  when  it 
was  only  after  the  last  of  his  faithful  guards  had  been  shot 
and  cut  down  that  he  was  reached;  or  the  battle  of  Rhode 
Island,  when  a  battalion  of  400  Negroes  withstood  three 
separate  and  distinct  charges  from  1,500  Hessians  under 

189 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Count  Donop,  and  beat  them  back  with  such  tremendous 
loss  that  Count  Donop  at  once  applied  for  an  exchange, 
fearing  that  his  men  would  kill  him,  if  he  went  into  battle 
with  them  again,  for  having  exposed  them  to  such  slaugh 
ter;  and  many  other  instances  that  are  of  record.  The 
letter  following,  written  December  5,  1775,  explains  it 
self: 

"To  THE  HONORABLE  GENERAL  COURT  OF  THE  MASSA 
CHUSETTS  BAY: 

"The  subscribers  beg  leave  to  report  to  your  Honor 
able  House  (which  we  do  in  justice  to  the  character  of  so 
brave  a  man)  that  under  our  own  observation  we  declare 
that  a  Negro  man  named  Salem  Poor,  of  Colonel  Frye's 
Regiment,  Captain  Ames'  Company,  in  the  late  battle 
at  Charleston,  behaved  like  an  experienced  officer  as  well 
as  an  excellent  soldier.  To  set  forth  particulars  of  his 
conduct  would  be  tedious.  We  would  only  beg  to  say,  in 
the  person  of  this  Negro  centers  a  brave  and  gallant 
soldier.  The  reward  due  to  so  great  and  distinguished  a 
character  we  submit  to  Congress. " 

This  is  a  splendid  and  well-attested  tribute  to  a  gallant 
and  worthy  Negro.  There  were  many  such,  but,  beyond 
receiving  and  reading,  no  action  was  taken  thereon  by 
Congress.  There  is  no  lack  of  incidents,  and  the  tempta 
tion  to  quote  many  of  them  is  great,  but  the  time  allotted 
me  is  too  brief  for  extended  mention,  and  I  must  bring 
this  branch  of  my  subject  to  a  close.  It  is  in  evidence 
that  while  so  many  Negroes  were  offering  their  lives  a 
willing  sacrifice  for  the  country,  in  some  sections  the 

190 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

officers  of  the  Continental  forces  received  their  bounty 
and  pay  in  Negroes,  "grown"  and  "small,"  instead  of 
"dollars"  and  "cents."  Fighting  for  liberty  and  taking 
pay  in  slaves! 

When  the  war  was  over  the  free  men  returned  to  meet 
their  same  difficulties;  the  slaves  were  caught  when  pos 
sible  and  re-enslaved  by  their  former  masters.  In  Boston 
a  few  years  later  we  find  a  party  of  black  patriots  of  the 
Revolution  mobbed  on  Boston  Common  while  celebrating 
the  anniversary  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade. 

The  captain  of  a  vessel  trading  along  the  coast  tells  of 
a  Negro  who  had  fought  in  the  war  and  been  distinguished 
for  bravery  and  soldierly  conduct.  He  was  reclaimed 
and  re-enslaved  by  his  master  after  the  war,  and  served 
him  faithfully  until  old  age  rendered  him  useless.  The 
master  then  brought  the  poor  old  slave  to  this  captain 
and  asked  him  to  take  him  along  on  his  trip  and  try  to  sell 
him.  The  captain  hated  to  sell  a  man  who  had  fought  for 
his  country,  but  finally  agreed,  took  the  poor  old  man  to 
Mobile,  and  sold  him  for  $100  to  a  man  who  put  him  to 
attending  a  chicken-coop.  His  former  master  continued 
to  draw  the  old  slave's  pension  as  a  soldier  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  until  he  died. 

The  War  of  1812  was  mainly  fought  upon  the  water, 
and  in  the  American  Navy  at  that  time  the  Negro  stood 
in  the  ratio  of  about  one  to  six.  We  find  record  of  com 
plaint  by  Commodore  Perry  at  the  beginning  because  of 
the  large  number  of  Negroes  sent  him,  but  later  the  high 
est  tribute  to  their  bravery  and  efficiency.  Captain 
Shaler,  of  the  armed  brig  General  Thompson,  writing  of 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

an  engagement  between  his  vessel  and  a  British  frigate, 
says: 

"The  name  of  one  of  my  poor  fellows  who  was  killed 
ought  to  be  registered  in  the  book  of  fame,  and  remem 
bered  as  long  as  bravery  is  a  virtue.  He  was  a  black  man, 
by  name  John  Johnson.  A  twenty-four  pound  shot 
struck  him  in  the  hip,  and  took  away  all  the  lower  part 
of  his  body.  In  this  state  the  poor  brave  fellow  lay  on 
the  deck,  and  several  times  exclaimed  to  his  shipmates: 
'Fire  away,  my  boys;  nor  haul  a  color  down!'  Another 
black  man,  by  the  name  of  John  Davis,  who  was  struck 
in  much  the  same  manner,  repeatedly  requested  to  be 
thrown  overboard,  saying  that  he  was  only  in  the  way  of 
the  others. " 

I  know  of  nothing  finer  in  history  than  these  incidents 
of  valor  and  patriotism. 

As  before,  the  Negro  was  not  universally  welcomed 
to  the  ranks  of  the  American  Army;  but  later,  continued 
reverses  and  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  in  enlistments  made  it 
necessary  to  seek  his  aid,  and  from  Mobile,  Ala.,  on  Sept 
ember  21,  1814,  General  Jackson  issued  a  stirring  call  to 
the  free  colored  people  of  Louisiana  for  aid. 

In  a  remarkably  short  period,  two  battalions  were 
raised,  under  Majors  LaCaste  and  Savary,  which  did 
splendid  service  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  New  York 
enrolled  two  battalions,  and  sent  them  to  Sacketts  Har 
bor.  Pennsylvania  enrolled  2400,  and  sent  them  to  Gray's 
Ferry  at  the  capture  of  Washington,  to  prepare  for  the 
invading  column.  Another  battalion  also  was  raised, 

192 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

armed,  equipped,  and  ready  to  start  to  the  front,  when 
peace  was  declared. 

In  one  of  the  actions  of  this  war,  a  charging  column 
of  the  American  Army  was  repulsed  and  thrown  into 
great  disorder.  A  Negro  private  named  Jeffreys,  seeing 
the  disaster,  sprang  upon  a  horse,  and  by  heroic  effort 
rallied  the  troops,  led  them  back  upon  a  second  charge, 
and  completely  routed  the  enemy.  He  was  rewarded  by 
General  Jackson  with  the  honorary  title  of  Major.  Under 
the  laws  he  could  not  commission  him. 

When  the  war  was  over,  this  gallant  man  returned  to 
his  home  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  he  lived  for  years 
afterward,  highly  respected  by  its  citizens  of  all  races. 

At  the  age  of  seventy  years,  this  black  hero  was 
obliged,  in  self-defense,  to  strike  a  white  ruffian,  who  had 
assaulted  him.  Under  the  laws  of  the  State  he  was 
arrested  and  given  nine  and  thirty  lashes  on  his  bare 
back.  It  broke  his  heart,  and  Major  Jeffreys  died. 

It  seems  a  little  singular  that  in  the  tremendous 
struggle  between  the  States  in  1861-1865,  the  South 
should  have  been  the  first  to  take  steps  toward  the  enlist 
ment  of  Negroes.  Yet  such  is  the  fact.  Two  weeks  after 
the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  Charleston  Mercury  records 
the  passing  through  Augusta  of  several  companies  of  the 
the  3rd  and  4th  Georgia  Regiment,  and  of  sixteen  well- 
drilled  companies  and  one  Negro  company  from  Nashville, 
Tenn. 

The  Memphis  Avalanche  and  The  Memphis  Appeal  of 
May  9,  10,  and  n,  1861,  gave  notice  of  the  appointment 
by  the  "Committee  of  Safety "  of  a  committee  of  three 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

persons  "  to  organize  a  volunteer  company  composed  of 
our  patriotic  freemen  of  color  of  the  city  of  Memphis,  for 
the  service  of  our  common  defense. " 

A  telegram  from  New  Orleans  dated  November  23, 
1 86 1,  notes  the  review  by  Governor  Moore  of  over  28,000 
troops,  and  that  one  regiment  comprised  "1,400  colored 
men. "  The  New  Orleans  Picayune,  referring  to  a  review 
held  February  9,  1862,  says:  "We  must  also  pay  a 
deserved  compliment  to  the  companies  of  free  colored 
men,  all  very  well  drilled  and  comfortably  equipped." 

It  is  a  little  odd,  too,  that  in  the  evacuation  of  New 
Orleans  a  little  later,  in  April,  1862,  all  of  the  troops  suc 
ceeded  in  getting  away  except  the  Negroes.  They  "got 
left." 

It  is  not  in  our  line  to  speculate  upon  what  would 
have  been  the  result  of  the  war  had  the  South  kept  up 
this  policy,  enlisted  the  freemen,  and  emancipated  the 
enlisting  slaves  and  their  families.  The  immense  addition 
to  their  fighting  force,  the  quick  recognition  of  them  by 
Great  Britain,  to  which  slavery  was  the  greatest  bar,  and 
the  fact  that  the  heart  of  the  Negro  was  with  the  South 
but  for  slavery,  and  the  case  stands  clear.  But  the  pri 
mary  successes  of  the  South  closed  its  eyes  to  its  only 
chance  of  salvation,  while  at  the  same  time  the  eyes  of  the 
North  were  opened. 

In  1865,  the  South  saw,  and  endeavored  to  remedy, 
its  error.  On  March  9,  1865,  the  Confederate  Congress 
passed  a  bill,  recommended  by  General  Lee,  authorizing 
the  enlistment  of  200,000  Negroes;  but  it  was  then  too 
late. 

194 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

The  North  came  slowly  and  reluctantly  to  recognize 
the  Negro  as  a  factor  for  good  in  the  war.  "This  is  a 
white  man's  war, "  met  the  Negroes  at  every  step  of  their 
first  efforts  to  gam  admission  to  the  armies  of  the  Union. 

To  General  David  Hunter,  more  than  to  any  other  one 
man,  is  due  the  credit  for  the  successful  entry  upon  the 
stage  of  the  Negro  as  a  soldier  in  this  war. 

In  the  spring  of  1862,  he  raised  and  equipped  a  regi 
ment  of  Negroes  in  South  Carolina,  and  when  the  fact 
because  known  in  Washington  and  throughout  the 
country,  such  a  storm  was  raised  about  the  ears  of  the 
Administration  that  they  gracefully  stood  aside  and  left 
the  brave  general  to  fight  his  enemies  in  the  front  and 
rear  as  best  he  might.  He  was  quite  capable  to  do  both, 

as  it  proved. 

*    *    *    *    * 

The  beginning  of  1863  saw  the  opening  of  the  doors 
to  the  Negro  in  every  direction .  General  Lorenzo  Thomas 
went  in  person  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  supervise 
it  there.  Massachusetts  was  authorized  to  fill  its  quota 
with  Negroes.  The  States  of  Maryland,  Missouri,  Dela 
ware,  and  Tennesee  were  thrown  open  by  order  of  the 
War  Department,  and  all  slaves  enlisting  therefrom 
declared  free.  Ohio,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
York  joined  the  band  and  sent  the  stalwart  black  boy  in 
blue  to  the  front  singing,  "  Give  us  a  flag,  all  free,  without 
a  slave. "  Fo  c  two  years  the  fierce  and  determined  opposi 
tion  had  kept  them  out,  but  now  the  bars  were  down  and 
they  came  pouring  in.  Some  one  said,  "  he  cared  not  who 
made  the  laws  of  a  people  if  he  could  make  their  songs. " 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

A  better  exemplification  of  this  would  be  difficult  to  find 
than  is  the  song  written  by  "Miles  O'Reilly"  (Colonel 
Halpine),  of  the  old  loth  Army  Corps.  I  cannot  resist 
the  temptation  to  quote  it  here.  With  General  Hunter's 
letter  and  this  song  to  quote  from,  the  episode  was  closed : 

"Some  say  it  is  a  burning  shame  to  make  the  Naygurs  fight, 

An'  that  the  trade  o'  being  kilt  belongs  but  to  the  white; 

But  as  for  me,  upon  me  sowl,  so  liberal  are  we  here, 

I'll  let  Sambo  be  murthered,  in  place  of  meself,  on  every  day  of  the 

year. 

On  every  day  of  the  year,  boys,  and  every  hour  in  the  day, 
The  right  to  be  kilt  I'll  divide  wid  him,  and  divil  a  word  I'll  say. 

In  battles'  wild  commotion  I  shouldn't  at  all  object 

If  Sambo's  body  should  stop  a  ball  that  was  coming  for  me  direct, 

An'  the  prod  of  a  Southern  bayonet;  so  liberal  are  we  here, 

I'll  resign  and  let  Sambo  take  it,  on  every  day  in  the  year, 

On  every  day  in  the  year,  boys,  an'  wid  none  of  your  nasty  pride, 

All  right  in  Southern  baynet  prod,  wid  Sambo  I'll  divide. 

The  men  who  object  to  Sambo  should  take  his  place  and  fight, 
An'  it  is  betther  to  have  a  Naygur's  hue,  than  a  liver  that's  weak 

an'  white, 
Though  Sambo's  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  his  finger  a  thryger  can 

pull, 
An'  his  eye  runs  straight  on  the  barrel-sight  from  under  its  thatch 

of  wool. 

So  hear  me  all,  boys,  darlin',  don't  think  I'm  tipping  you  chaff, — 
The  right  to  be  kilt,  I'll  divide  with  him,  an'  give  him  the  largest 

half." 

It  took  three  years  of  war  to  place  the  enlisted  Negro 
upon  the  same  ground  as  the  enlisted  white  man  as  to  pay 
and  emoluments;  perhaps  six  years  of  war  might  have 

196 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

given  him  shoulder-straps,  but  the  war  ended  without 
authorization  of  law  for  that  step.  At  first  they  were 
received,  under  an  act  of  Congress  that  allowed  each  one, 
without  regard  to  rank,  ten  dollars  per  month,  three  dol 
lars  thereof  to  be  retained  for  clothing  and  equipments. 
I  think  it  was  in  May,  1864,  when  the  act  was  passed 
equalizing  the  pay,  but  not  opening  the  doors  to  promo 
tion. 

Under  an  act  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  making 
it  a  crime  punishable  with  death  for  any  white  person  to 
train  Negroes  or  mulattoes  to  arms,  or  aid  them  in  any 
military  enterprise,  and  devoting  the  Negro  caught  under 
arms  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  "present  or  future  laws 
of  the  State"  in  which  caught,  a  large  number  of  pro 
motions  were  made  by  the  way  of  a  rope  and  a  tree  along 
the  first  year  of  the  Negro's  service.  (I  can  even  recall 
one  instance  as  late  as  April,  1865,  though  it  had  been 
long  before  then  generally  discontinued.) 

What  the  Negro  did,  how  he  did  it,  and  where,  it 
would  take  volumes  to  properly  record,  I  can  however 
give  but  briefest  mention  to  a  few  of  the  many  evidences 
of  his  fitness  for  the  duties  of  the  war,  and  his  aid  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union. 

The  first  fighting  done  by  organized  Negro  troops 
appears  to  have  been  done  by  Company  A,  ist  South 
Carolina  Negro  Regiment,  at  St.  Helena  Island,  Novem 
ber  3  to  10,  1862,  while  participating  in  an  expedition 
along  the  coast  of  Georgia  and  Florida  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  O.  T.  Beard,  of  the  48th  New  York  Infantry, 
who  says  in  his  report: 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

"The  colored  men  fought  with  astonishing  coolness 
and  bravery.  I  found  them  all  I  could  desire, — more  than 
I  had  hoped.  They  behaved  gloriously,  and  deserve  all 
praise. " 

The  testimony  thus  inaugurated  runs  like  a  cord  of 
gold  through  the  web  and  woof  of  the  history  of  the  Negro 
as  a  soldier  from  that  date  to  their  final  charge,  the  last 
made  at  Clover  Hill,  Va.,  April  9,  1865. 

Necessarily  the  first  actions  in  which  the  Negro  bore  a 
part  commanded  most  attention.  Friends  and  enemies 
were  looking  eagerly  to  see  how  they  would  acquit  them 
selves,  and  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  names  of  Fort 
Wagner,  Olustee,  Millikens  Bend,  Port  Hudson,  and  Fort 
Pillow  are  as  familiar  as  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  Shiloh 
and  Gettysburg,  and  while  those  first  experiences  were 
mostly  severe  reverses,  they  were  by  that  very  fact  splen 
did  exemplifiers  of  the  truth  that  the  Negroes  could  be 
relied  upon  to  fight  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances, 
against  any  odds,  and  could  not  be  discouraged. 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  Port  Hudson,  La.,  in 
May,  1863,  assaulted  by  General  Banks  with  a  force  of 
which  the  ist  and  2nd  Regiments,  Louisiana  Native 
Guards,  formed  a  part.  When  starting  upon  their  des 
perate  mission,  Colonel  Stafford  of  the  ist  Regiment,  in 
turning  over  the  regimental  colors  to  the  color-guard, 
made  a  brief  and  patriotic  address,  closing  with  the  words: 

"Color-guard:  Protect,  defend,  die  for,  but  do  not 
surrender,  these  colors."  The  gallant  flag-sergeant, 
Plancianos,  taking  them  replied:  "Colonel:  I  will  bring 

198 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

back  these  colors  to  you  in  honor,  or  report  to  God  the 
reason  why. " 

Six  times  with  desperate  valor  they  charged  over 
ground  where  success  was  hopeless,  a  deep  bayou  between 
them  and  the  works  of  the  enemy  at  the  point  of  attack 
rendering  it  impossible  to  reach  them,  yet  strange  to  say, 
six  times  they  were  ordered  forward  and  six  times  they 
went  to  useless  death,  until  swept  back  by  the  blazing 
breath  of  shot  and  shell  before  which  nothing  living 
could  stand.  Here  fell  the  gallant  Captain  Cailloux, 
black  as  the  ace  of  spades.  Refusing  to  leave  the  field 
though  his  arm  had  been  shattered  by  a  bullet,  he  re 
turned  to  the  charge  until  killed  by  a  shell. 

A  soldier  limping  painfully  to  the  front  was  halted 
and  asked  where  he  was  going.  He  replied,  "I  am  shot 
bad  in  de  leg,  and  dey  want  me  to  go  to  de  hospital,  but 
I  guess  I  can  give  'em  a  little  more  yet. " 

The  colors  came  back,  but  crimsoned  with  the  blood 
of  the  gallant  Plancianos,  who  reported  to  God  from  that 
bloody  field. 

Shall  we  glance  from  this  to  Millikens  Bend,  La.,  in 
January,  1863,  garrisoned  by  the  gth  and  nth  Louisiana 
and  the  ist  Mississippi,  all  Negroes,  and  about  160  of  the 
23rd  Iowa  (white),  about  noo  fighting  men  in  all?  At 
tacked  by  a  force  of  six  Confederate  regiments,  crushed 
out  of  their  works  by  sheer  weight  of  numbers,  borne 
down  toward  the  levee,  fighting  every  step  of  the  way, 
hand  to  hand — clubbed  musket,  bayonets,  and  swords, — 
from  three  A.  M.  to  twelve  noon,  they  fought  desperately 
until  a  Union  gun-boat  came  to  the  rescue  and  shelled  the 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

desperate  foe  back  to  the  woods,  with  a  total  loss  to  the 
defenders  of  437  men, — two-fifths  of  their  strength. 

Shall  we  turn  with  sadness  to  Fort  Wagner,  S.  C.,  in 
July,  1863,  when  the  54th  Massachusetts  won  its  death 
less  fame,  and  its  grand  young  commander,  Colonel 
Robert  Gould  Shaw,  passed  into  the  temple  of  immortal 
ity?  After  a  march  of  all  day,  under  a  burning  sun,  and 
all  night  through  a  tempest  of  wind  and  rain,  drenched, 
exhausted,  hungry,  they  wheeled  into  line,  without  a 
murmur  for  that  awful  charge,  that  dance  of  death,  the 
struggle  against  hopeless  odds,  and  the  shattered  rem 
nants  were  hurled  back  as  from  the  mouth  of  hell,  leaving 
the  dead  bodies  of  their  young  commander  and  his  noble 
followers  to  be  buried  in  a  common  grave.  Its  total  loss 
was  about  one-third  of  its  strength. 

Here  it  was  that  the  gallant  flag-sergeant,  Carney, 
though  grievously  wounded,  bore  back  his  flag  to  safety, 
and  fell  fainting  and  exhausted  with  loss  of  blood,  saying, 
"Boys,  the  old  flag  never  touched  the  ground!"  Or 
another  glance,  at  ill-starred  Olustee,  where  the  gallant 
8th  United  States  Colored  Troops  lost  87  killed  of  its 
effective  fighting  force,  the  largest  loss  in  any  one  colored 
regiment  in  any  one  action  of  the  war.  And  so  on,  by 
Fort  Pillow,  which  let  us  pass  in  merciful  silence,  and  to 
Honey  Hill,  S.  C.,  perhaps  the  last  desperate  fight  in  the 
far  south,  in  which  the  32nd,  35th,  and  io2nd  United 
States  Colored  Troops  and  the  54th  and  55th  Mass 
achusetts  Infantry  won  fresh  and  fadeless  laurels  for 
splendid  fighting  against  hopeless  odds  and  insurmount 
able  difficulties,  and  then  to  Nashville,  Term.,  with  its 

200 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

recorded  loss  of  84  killed  in  the  effectives  of  the  i3th 
United  States  Colored  Troops. 

These  were  all  brilliant  actions,  and  they  covered  the 
actors  with,  and  reflected  upon  the  race,  a  blaze  of  glory. 
But  it  was  in  the  armies  of  the  James  and  of  the  Potomac 
that  the  true  metal  of  the  Negro  as  a  soldier  rang  out  its 
clearest  notes  amid  the  tremendous  diapasons  that  rolled 
back  and  forth  between  the  embattled  hosts.  Here  was 
war  indeed,  upon  its  grandest  scale  and  in  all  its  infinite 
variety:  The  tireless  march  under  burning  sun,  chilling 
frosts,  and  driven  tempests;  the  lonely  vigil  of  the  picket 
under  starless  skies,  the  rush  and  roar  of  countless  "hosts 
to  battle  driven"  in  the  mad  charge  and  the  victorious 
shout  that  pursued  the  fleeing  foe;  the  grim  determination 
that  held  its  line  of  defenses  with  set  teeth,  blood-shot 
eye,  and  strained  muscle,  beating  back  charge  after  charge 
of  the  foe;  the  patient  labor  in  trench  and  mine,  on  hill 
and  in  valley,  swamp  and  jungle,  with  disease  adding  its 
horrors  to  the  decimation  of  shot  and  shell. 

Here  the  Negro  stood  in  the  full  glare  of  the  greatest 
search-light,  part  and  parcel  of  the  grandest  armies  ever 
mustered  upon  this  continent,  competing  side  by  side 
with  the  best  and  bravest  of  the  Union  Army  against  the 
flower  of  the  Confederacy,  the  best  and  bravest  of  Lee's 
army,  and  losing  nothing  in  the  contrast.  Never  again 
while  time  lasts  will  the  doubt  arise  as  in  1861,  "Will  the 
Negro  fight?"  As  a  problem,  it  has  been  solved;  as  a 
question,  it  has  been  answered;  and  as  a  fact,  it  is  as 
established  as  the  eternal  hills.  It  was  the  Negroes  who 
rang  up  the  curtain  upon  the  last  act  of  the  bloody  tragedy 

201 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  15,  1864,  and  they  who  rang  it 
down  at  Clover  Hill,  Va.,  April  9,  1865.  They  were  one 
of  the  strong  fingers  upon  the  mighty  hand  that  grasped 
the  giant's  throat  at  Petersburg  and  never  flexed  until  the 
breath  went  out  at  Appomattox.  In  this  period  it  would 
take  page  on  page  to  recount  their  deeds  of  valor  and 
their  glorious  victories. 

See  them  on  the  i$th  of  June,  1864,  carrying  the  out 
post  at  Baylor's  field  in  early  morning,  and  all  that  long, 
hot,  summer  day  advancing,  a  few  yards  at  a  time,  then 
lying  down  to  escape  the  fire  from  the  works,  but  still 
gradually  creeping  nearer  and  nearer,  until,  just  as  the 
sun  went  down,  they  swept  like  a  tornado  over  the  works 
and  started  upon  a  race  for  the  city,  close  at  the  heels  of 
the  flying  foe,  until  mistakenly  ordered  back.  Of  this 
day's  experience  General  Badeau  writes:  "No  worse 
strain  on  the  nerves  of  troops  is  possible,  for  it  is  harder 
to  remain  quiet  under  cannon  fire,  even  though  com 
paratively  harmless,  than  to  advance  against  a  storm  of 
musketry."  General  W.  F.  "Baldy"  Smith,  speaking 
of  their  conduct,  says:  "No  nobler  effort  has  been  put 
forth  to-day,  and  no  greater  success  achieved  than  that 
of  the  colored  troops. " 

***** 

Or,  again,  at  the  terrible  mine  explosion  of  July  30, 
1864,  on  the  Petersburg  line,  and  at  the  fearful  slaughter 
of  September  29,  1864,  at  New  Market  Heights  and  Fort 
Harrison.  On  this  last  date  in  the  Fourth  United  States 
Colored  Troops,  out  of  a  color-guard  of  twelve  men,  but 

202 


CHRISTIAN  A.  FLEETWOOD 

one  came  off  the  field  on  his  own  feet.  The  gallant  flag- 
sergeant,  Hilton,  the  last  to  fall,  cried  out  as  he  went 
down,  "Boys,  save  the  colors";  and  they  were  saved. 

*  *    *    *    * 

Some  ten  or  more  years  later,  in  Congress,  in  the  midst 
of  a  speech  advocating  the  giving  of  civil  rights  to  the 
Negro,  General  Butler  said,  referring  to  this  incident: 

"There,  in  a  space  not  wider  than  the  clerk's  desk, 
and  three  hundred  yards  long,  lay  the  dead  bodies  of 
543  of  my  colored  comrades,  slain  in  the  defense  of  their 
country,  who  had  laid  down  their  lives  to  uphold  its  flag 
and  its  honor,  as  a  willing  sacrifice.  And  as  I  rode  along, 
guiding  my  horse  this  way  and  that,  lest  he  should  profane 
with  his  hoofs  what  seemed  to  me  the  sacred  dead,  and  as 
I  looked  at  their  bronzed  faces  upturned  in  the  shining 
sun,  as  if  in  mute  appeal  against  the  wrongs  of  the  country 
for  which  they  had  given  their  lives,  and  whose  flag  had 
been  to  them  a  flag  of  stripes,  in  which  no  star  of  glory 
had  ever  shone  for  them — f eeling  I  had  wronged  them  in 
the  past,  and  believing  what  was  the  future  duty  of  my 
country  to  them, — I  swore  to  myself  a  solemn  oath: 
'May  my  right  hand  forget  its  cunning,  and  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  ever  I  fail  to  defend  the 
rights  of  the  men  who  have  given  their  blood  for  me  and 
my  country  this  day  and  for  their  race  forever.'  And, 
God  helping  me,  I  will  keep  that  oath. " 

*  *    *    *    * 

History  further  repeats  itself  in  the  fact  that  in  every 
war  so  far  known  to  this  country,  the  first  blood,  and,  in 
some  cases,  the  last  also,  has  been  shed  by  the  faithful 

203 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Negro,  and  this  in  spite  of  all  the  years  of  bondage  and 
oppression,  and  of  wrongs  unspeakable.  Under  the  sun 
there  has  nothing  been  known  in  the  history  of  any  people 
more  marvellous  than  these  facts! 

Oh,  to  the  living  few, 
Comrades,  be  just,  be  true. 
Hail  them  as  heroes  tried, 
Fight  with  them  side  by  side; 
Never  in  field  or  tent, 
Scorn  the  Black  Regiment. 

It  is  but  a  little  thing  to  ask,  they  could  ask  no  less: 
be  just;  but,  oh,  the  shame  of  it  for  those  who  need  be 
asked! 

There  is  no  need  for  panegyric,  for  sounding  phrases 
or  rounded  periods.  The  simple  story  is  eloquent  with 
all  that  is  necessary  to  make  the  heart  swell  with  pride. 
In  the  hour  allotted  me  to  fill,  it  is  possible  only  to  indicate 
in  skeleton  the  worth  of  the  Negro  as  a  soldier.  If  this 
brief  sketch  should  awaken  even  a  few  to  interest  in  his 
achievements,  and  one  be  found  willing  and  fitted  to 
write  the  history  that  is  their  due,  that  writer  shall 
achieve  immortality. 


204 


AN   ADDRESS    AT   THE    UNVEILING    OF    THE 
ROBERT  GOULD  SHAW  MONUMENT* 

BY  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON,  A.  M.,  LL.D. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow  Citizens: 

In  this  presence,  and  on  this  sacred  and  memorable 
day,  in  the  deeds  and  death  of  our  hero,  we  recall  the  old, 
old  story,  ever  old  yet  ever  new,  that  when  it  was  the  will 
of  the  Father  to  lift  humanity  out  of  wretchedness  and 
bondage,  the  precious  task  was  delegated  to  Him  who, 
among  ten  thousand,  was  altogether  lovely,  and  was  will 
ing  to  make  himself  of  no  reputation  that  he  might  save 
and  lift  up  others. 

If  that  heart  could  throb  and  if  those  lips  could  speak, 
what  would  be  the  sentiment  and  words  that  Robert 
Gould  Shaw  would  have  us  feel  and  speak  at  this  hour? 
He  would  not  have  us  dwell  long  on  the  mistakes,  the 
injustice,  the  criticisms  of  the  days 

"Of  storm  and  cloud,  of  doubt  and  fears, 
Across  the  eternal  sky  must  lower; 
Before  the  glorious  noon  appears," 

he  would  have  us  bind  up  with  his  own  undying  fame  and 
memory  and  retain  by  the  side  of  his  monument,  the  name 

*  An  address  by  Booker  T.  Washington,  A.  M.,delivered  on  the  occasion  of 
the  unveiling  of  the  Robert  Gould  Shaw  Monument,  Boston,  Mass.,  May  31, 
1897. 

205 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  John  A.  Andrews,  who,  with  prophetic  vision  and 
strong  arm,  helped  to  make  the  existence  of  the  54th 
Regiment  possible;  and  that  of  George  L.  Stearns,  who, 
with  hidden  generosity  and  a  great  sweet  heart,  helped  to 
turn  the  darkest  hour  into  day,  and  in  doing  so,  freely 
gave  service,  fortune,  and  life  itself  to  the  cause  which 
this  day  commemorates.  Nor  would  he  have  us  forget 
those  brother  officers,  living  and  dead,  who  by  their 
baptism  in  blood  and  fire,  in  defense  of  union  and 
freedom,  gave  us  an  example  of  the  highest  and  purest 
patriotism. 

To  you  who  fought  so  valiantly  in  the  ranks,  the  scar 
red  and  scattered  remnant  of  the  54th  Regiment,  who, 
with  empty  sleeve  and  wanting  leg,  have  honored  this 
occasion  with  your  presence,  to  you,  your  commander  is 
not  dead.  Though  Boston  erected  no  monument  and 
history  recorded  no  story,  in  you  and  the  loyal  race  which 
you  represent  Robert  Gould  Shaw  would  have  a  monu 
ment  which  tune  could  not  wear  away. 

But  an  occasion  like  this  is  too  great,  too  sacred  for 
mere  individual  eulogy.  The  individual  is  the  instrument, 
national  virtue  the  end.  That  which  was  300  years  being 
woven  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  our  democratic  institu 
tions  could  not  be  effaced  by  a  single  battle,  as  magnificent 
as  was  that  battle;  that  which  for  three  centuries  had 
bound  master  and  slave,  yea,  North  and  South,  to  a  body 
of  death,  could  not  be  blotted  out  by  four  years  of  war, 
could  not  be  atoned  for  by  shot  and  sword,  nor  by  blood 
and  tears. 

Not  many  days  ago  in  the  heart  of  the  South,  in  a 

206 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

large  gathering  of  the  people  of  my  race,  there  were  heard 
from  many  lips  praises  and  thanksgiving  to  God  for  His 
goodness  in  setting  them  free  from  physical  slavery.  In 
the  midst  of  that  assembly  there  arose  a  Southern  white 
man  the  former  owner  of  many  slaves,  gray  of  hair  and 
with  hands  which  trembled,  and  from  his  quivering  lips, 
there  came  the  words;  "My  friends,  you  forget  in  your 
rejoicing  that,  in  setting  you  free,  God  was  also  good  to  me 
and  my  race  in  setting  us  free. "  But  there  is  a  higher  and 
deeper  sense  in  which  both  races  must  be  free  than  that 
represented  by  the  bill  of  sale.  The  black  man  who  cannot 
let  love  and  sympathy  go  out  to  the  white  man  is  but  half 
free.  The  white  man  who  would  close  the  shop  or  factory 
against  a  black  man  seeking  an  opportunity  to  earn  an 
honest  living  is  but  half  free.  The  white  man  who  retards 
his  own  development  by  opposing  a  black  man  is  but  half 
free.  The  full  measure  of  the  fruit  of  Fort  Wagner  and  all 
that  this  monument  stands  for  will  not  be  realized  until 
every  man  covered  with  a  black  skin  shall,  by  patience 
and  natural  effort,  grow  to  that  height  in  industry,  prop 
erty,  intelligence,  and  moral  responsibility,  where  no  man 
in  all  our  land  will  be  tempted  to  degrade  himself  by 
withholding  from  his  black  brother  any  opportunity 
which  he  himself  would  possess. 

Until  that  time  comes  this  monument  will  stand  for 
effort,  not  victory  complete.  What  these  heroic  souls  of 
the  54th  Regiment  began,  we  must  complete.  It  must  be 
completed  not  in  malice,  not  in  narrowness;  nor  artificial 
progress,  nor  in  efforts  at  mere  temporary  political  gain, 
nor  in  abuse  of  another  section  or  race.  Standing  as  I  do 

207 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

to-day  in  the  home  of  Garrison  and  Phillips  and  Sumner, 
my  heart  goes  out  those  who  wore  gray  as  well  as  to  those 
clothed  in  blue;  to  those  who  returned  defeated,  to  desti 
tute  homes,  to  face  blasted  hopes  and  a  shattered  political 
and  industrial  system.  To  them  there  can  be  no  prouder 
reward  for  defeat  than  by  a  supreme  effort  to  place  the 
Negro  on  that  footing  where  he  will  add  material,  intel- 
lecual,  and  civil  strength  to  every  department  of  State. 

This  work  must  be  completed  in  public  school,  indus 
trial  school,  and  college.  The  most  of  it  must  be  com 
pleted  in  the  effort  of  the  Negro  himself,  in  his  effort  to 
withstand  temptation,  to  economize,  to  exercise  thrift,  to 
disregard  the  superficial  for  the  real — the  shadow  for  the 
substance,  to  be  great  and  yet  small,  in  his  effort  to  be 
patient  in  the  laying  of  a  firm  foundation,  so  to  grow  in 
skill  and  knowledge  that  he  shall  place  his  services  in 
demand  by  reason  of  his  intrinsic  and  superior  worth. 
This  is  the  key  that  unlocks  every  door  of  opportunity, 
and  all  others  fail.  In  this  battle  of  peace  the  rich  and 
poor,  the  black  and  white,  may  have  a  part. 

What  lesson  has  this  occasion  for  the  future?  What  of 
hope,  what  of  encouragement,  what  of  caution?  "  Watch 
man,  tell  us  of  the  night;  what  the  signs  of  promise  are. " 
If  through  me,  an  humble  representative,  nearly  ten 
millions  of  my  people  might  be  permitted  to  send  a  mes 
sage  to  Massachusetts,  to  the  survivors  of  the  54th  Regi 
ment,  to  the  committee  whose  untiring  energy  has  made 
this  memorial  possible,  to  the  family  who  gave  their  only 
boy  that  we  might  have  life  more  abundantly,  that  mes 
sage  would  be,  "Tell  them  that  the  sacrifice  was  not  in 

208 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

vain,  that  up  from  the  depth  of  ignorance  and  poverty, 
we  are  coming,  and  if  we  come  through  oppression  out  of 
the  struggle,  we  are  gaining  strength.  By  the  way  of  the 
school,  the  well-cultivated  field,  the  skilled  hand,  the 
Christian  home,  we  are  coming  up;  that  we  propose  to 
invite  all  who  will  to  step  up  and  occupy  this  position 
with  us.  Tell  them  that  we  are  learning  that  standing- 
ground  for  the  race,  as  for  the  individual,  must  be  laid  in 
intelligence,  industry,  thrift,  and  property,  not  as  an  end, 
but  as  a  means  to  the  highest  privileges;  that  we  are  learn 
ing  that  neither  the  conqueror's  bullet  nor  fiat  of  law 
could  make  an  ignorant  voter  an  intelligent  voter,  could 
make  a  dependent  man  an  independent  man,  could  give 
one  citizen  respect  for  another,  a  bank  account,  a  foot  of 
land,  or  an  enlightened  fireside.  Tell  them  that,  as  grate 
ful  as  we  are  to  artist  and  patriotism  for  placing  the 
figures  of  Shaw  and  his  comrades  in  physical  form  of 
beauty  and  magnificence,  that  after  all,  the  real  monu 
ment,  the  greater  monument,  is  being  slowly  but  safely 
builded  among  the  lowly  in  the  South,  in  the  struggles  and 
sacrifices  of  a  race  to  justify  all  that  has  been  done  and 
suffered  for  it. " 

One  of  the  wishes  that  lay  nearest  Colonel  Shaw's 
heart  was,  that  his  black  troops  might  be  permitted  to 
fight  by  the  side  of  white  soldiers.  Have  we  not  lived  to 
see  that  wish  realized,  and  will  it  not  be  further  realized 
in  the  future?  Not  at  Wagner,  not  with  rifle  and  bayonet, 
but  on  the  field  of  peace,  in  the  battle  of  industry,  in  the 
struggle  for  good  government,  in  the  lifting  up  of  the 
lowest  to  the  fullest  opportunities.  In  this  we  shall  fight 

209 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

by  the  side  of  white  men,  North  and  South.  And  if  this 
be  true,  as  under  God's  guidance  it  will,  that  old  flag, 
that  emblem  of  progress  and  security,  which  brave  Ser 
geant  Carney  never  permitted  to  fall  on  the  ground,  will 
still  be  borne  aloft  by  Southern  soldier  and  Northern 
soldier,  and,  in  a  more  potent  and  higher  sense,  we  shall 
all  realize  that 

"The  slave's  chain  and  the  master's  alike  are  broken; 

The  one  curse  of  the  race  held  both  in  tether; 
They  are  rising,  all  are  rising — 

The  black  and  the  white  together." 


210 


THE  LIMITLESS  POSSIBILITIES  OF  THE 
NEGRO  RACE* 

BY  CHARLES  W.  ANDERSON,  of  New  York 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  sometimes  feel  that  we,  as  a  race,  do  not  fully  appre 
ciate  the  importance  of  industrial  education.  I  feel  that 
the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  the  physical  apparatus  of 
civil  education  will  play  a  larger  part  in  the  progress  of 
the  world  than  it  has  hitherto  done.  In  other  words,  I 
firmly  believe  that  the  industrial  victories  are  in  the 
future  and  not  in  the  past.  We  have  done  much  and 
wrought  many  miracles,  but  the  miracles  are  but  evidences 
of  possible  powers  rather  than  the  high-tide  marks  of 
development.  In  my  mind  the  possibilities  of  physical 
and  scientific  achievement  are  limitless,  and  beyond  the 
compass  of  human  conception.  Look  at  iron  alone.  See 
what  has  been  done  with  it  in  the  last  fifty  years.  See 
what  you  are  able  to  do  with  it  here  in  Tennessee.  From 
it  are  made  things  dainty  and  things  dangerous,  carriages 
and  cannon,  spatula  and  spade,  sword  and  pen,  wheel, 
axle  and  rail,  as  well  as  screw,  file,  and  saw.  It  is  bound 
around  the  hull  of  ships  and  lifted  into  tower  and  steeple. 
It  is  drawn  into  wire,  coiled  into  springs,  woven  into 

*  An  address  delivered  before  the   Tennessee    Centennial    Exposition 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  June  5,  1897. 

211 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

gauze,  twisted  into  rope,  and  sharpened  into  needles.  It  is 
stretched  into  a  web,  finer  by  comparison  than  the  gos 
samer  of  the  morning  along  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  made 
to  tick  out  the  yesterday  of  Europe  on  the  to-day  of 
America.  All  of  this  variety  of  use  has  been  made  out 
of  the  stubbornness  of  metals  by  the  sovereign  touch  of 
industrial  and  scientific  education.  There  is  inexhaustible 
promise  in  this  development.  It  has  brought,  and  is  still 
bringing,  the  two  great  races  closer  together.  These  iron 
veins  and  arteries  which  interlock  our  cities  and  con 
federate  our  States  do  much  to  familiarize  each  race  with 
the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  other,  and  to  weave  their 
histories  into  one  harmonious  contexture,  as  telegraphic 
messages  fly  instantaneously  across  them,  and  screaming 
trains  rush  back  and  forth  like  shuttles  upon  a  mighty 
loom.  When  our  fullest  expectations  shall  have  been  ful 
filled,  both  races  will  have  the  freest  opportunity  for  the 
development  of  their  varied  capabilities,  and,  through 
mutual  bonds  of  interest  and  affection  and  mutual  bonds 
of  sympathy  and  purpose,  will  rise  the  unmatched  har 
monies  of  a  united  people  to  the  imperial  accompaniment 
of  two  mighty  oceans. 

It  is  a  peculiar  fact  that  immediately  after  the  aboli 
tion  of  human  slavery  the  country  started  upon  an 
unparalleled  career  of  prosperity.  The  West,  then  almost 
unexplored,  began  to  develop,  and  has  continued  to  do  so 
until  now  it  is  studded  with  proud  cities,  teeming  with 
throbbing  life,  growing  like  the  grass  of  the  prairies  in 
spring-time,  advancing  like  the  steam-engine,  baffling 
distance  like  the  telegraph,  and  spreading  the  pulsations 

212 


CHARLES  W.  ANDERSON 

of  their  mighty  hearts  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  world. 
There  they  stand  with  their  echoing  marts  of  trade,  their 
stately  spires  of  worship  and  their  magnificent  institutions 
of  learning,  as  free  as  the  encircling  air,  as  independent  as 
the  soaring  eagle,  and  more  powerful  than  the  Roman 
Empire  when  in  the  plenitude  of  her  power.  All  of  this 
has  been  accomplished  since  the  energies  of  men  were 
unfettered.  Thus  it  may  be  said  that  both  races  started 
almost  simultaneously  on  their  careers  to  f ulfill  the  destiny 
of  this  great  country  among  the  countries  of  the  world. 
And  as  we  started  together  substantially,  we  must  end 
together.  We  started  with  most  unequal  equipment,  to 
be  sure,  and  under  conditions  as  far  apart  as  the  sky  from 
this  pavilion,  but  we  have  marched  to  the  same  music 
and  in  the  same  direction  ever  since,  with  varying  fortunes 
and  unequal  steps,  but  with  no  steps  backward,  until  to 
day  we  are  able  to  recognize  in  each  other  and  be  recog 
nized  by  all  mankind  as  equals  in  our  attachment  to  the 
land,  the  laws,  the  institutions,  and  the  flag  of  our  com 
mon  country. 

The  responsibility  now  rests  upon  you  to  improve  each 
minute  of  your  lives  in  fitting  yourselves  for  a  wiser, 
better  and  worthier  discharge  of  the  obligations  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship.  You  may  be  constrained  to  ask,  "What 
shall  we  do?"  or,  with  Archimedes  of  old,  exclaim  "Give 
me  where  to  stand  and  I  will  move  the  world. "  Let  me 
advise  you  to  stand  where  you  are.  That's  the  place. 
Act  well  your  part,  and  you  shall  have  accomplished  all 
that  is  expected  of  you.  My  friends,  a  country  like  ours 
is  not  governed  by  law,  or  courts  of  justice,  or  judges, 

213 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

however  wise  or  puissant.  It  is  governed  by  public  senti 
ment.  Once  poison  it,  and  courts  are  impotent  and  judges 
powerless.  Therefore  we  are  responsible,  each  and  all  of 
us,  according  to  our  talents  and  influence,  for  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  day.  If  it  is  healthy  and  just,  it  is  we 
who  have  made  it  so;  if  it  is  unhealthy  and  unjust,  it  is  we 
who  have  made  it  or  permitted  it  to  become  so.  And  what 
is  this  all-powerful,  but  imperceptible,  entity,  this  potent 
influence  which  controls  presidents,  cabinets,  congresses, 
courts,  judges,  juries,  the  press  and — I  regret  to  say  it — 
the  pulpit?  What  is  public  sentiment  or  public  opinion? 
It  is  the  multiplied,  accumulated  opinion  of  all  the  people. 
Every  word  spoken  or  written  by  man  or  woman  goes  to 
make  up  this  great  stream  of  public  opinion,  just  as  every 
drop  of  dew  or  water  goes  to  make  up  that  mighty  river 
which  divides  this  imperial  continent  and  turns  the  spin 
dles  of  the  ten  thousand  factories  which  hug  its  shores. 
Hence  we  are  all  responsible  for  our  contribution  to  the 
public  opinion  of  the  day,  whether  our  contribution  be  a 
raindrop  or  a  Niagara.  We  are  responsible  for  what  we 
say  and  what  we  leave  unsaid,  for  what  we  do  and  what 
we  leave  undone,  for  what  we  write  and  what  is  unwritten. 
We  are  responsible  for  the  errors  we  have  committed  and 
for  those  we  have  taken  no  part  in  overthrowing.  So, 
whether  we  realize  it  or  not,  we  are  consciously  or  uncon 
sciously,  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  directly  or 
indirectly,  according  to  our  opportunities  and  our  influ 
ence,  responsible  for  the  public  sentiment  which  secures  or 
deprives  every  citizen  of  his  rights  and  of  the  opportunity 
for  the  highest  intellectual  and  industrial  development. 

214 


CHARLES  W.  ANDERSON 

I  know  that  it  is  sometimes  said  that  we  have  done 
very  little.  Be  that  as  it  may.  Thirty  years  is  but  a  brief 
time  compared  with  the  centuries  in  which  Norman, 
Saxon,  and  Dane  have  been  fusing  into  the  English  race. 
And  yet,  we  have  something  to  remember  when  great 
names  are  counted,  something  to  show  when  great  deeds 
are  told.  At  the  same  time  I  would  not  have  you  sit 
supinely  down  and  wait  for  the  millennium.  Far  from  it. 
It  is  said  that  all  things  come  to  him  who  waits.  That  is  in 
part  true,  but  it  is  only  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  truth. 
All  things  come  to  him  who  waits,  if  he  hustles  while  he 
waits. 

You  will  need  not  only  education  and  character,  but 
you  also  need  level-headedness  and  accuracy  of  judgment. 
Acquire  intellectuality,  but  acquire  practicality  at  the 
same  time.  Do  not  join  that  large  and  constantly  increas 
ing  class  in  this  country  to  whom  nothing  is  desirable  but 
the  impossible.  Do  not  indulge  in  the  pastime  of  throwing 
stones  at  the  stars.  Learn  to  be  practical,  and,  whatever 
you  attempt  in  life,  remember  to  think  out  a  plan  and  a 
policy  before  you  begin  the  work.  When  you  are  called 
upon  to  go  out  and  do  battle,  stop  and  reflect,  and  see  if 
there  is  a  reasonable  probability  of  your  whipping  any 
body.  If  the  probablity  is  not  apparent,  I  would  advise 
you  to  decline  the  glove  and  reserve  your  lance  for  a  more 
"convenient  season."  Martyrdom  is  very  attractive, 
especially  attractive  to  vigorous  young  men,  but  it  "but 
ters  no  parsnips. "  Therefore,  cultivate  prudence  as  well 
as  valor,  and  study  men  as  well  as  books;  for  you  will 
needs  be  prepared  to  meet  the  living  issues  of  the  present; 

215 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  if  you  are  wise,  you  will  anticipate  the  possible 
exigencies  of  the  future.  To  do  this  you  will  want  both 
courage  and  discretion.  Learn  the  proper  value  of  organ 
ization  and  union,  and  never  cease  to  remember  that  an 
army  divided  is  an  army  defeated.  You  will  neither  be 
able  to  help  yourself  nor  hurt  the  enemy  by  firing  paper 
bullets.  -You  must  organize. 

To  make  steam  effective  you  must  bind  it  up  in  an  en 
gine;  to  make  water  serviceable,  you  must  harness  it  in  a 
mill;  to  make  electricity  manageable,  you  must  mask  it  in 
a  battery;  and  to  make  men  useful  in  reformatory  or 
remedial  work,  you  must  recruit  them  into  an  organiza 
tion. 

And  to  those  present  who  have  not  enjoyed  the  advan 
tages  of  an  education,  let  me  direct  a  few  remarks.  You 
must  not  believe  that  you  cannot  assist  in  the  work  of 
building  character  for  the  race.  Every  man  or  woman 
who  plays  his  or  her  part  according  to  the  best  lights,  who 
bears  a  respected  name,  or  bears  the  proud  title  of  a 
"good  citizen,"  who  is  industrious,  temperate,  upright, 
law-abiding,  and  devoted  to  whatever  is  lovely  and  of 
good  report,  is  unconsciously  pleading  the  cause  of  the 
race  before  the  great  tribunal  of  the  civilized  world. 

To  all  such  we  can  only  render  the  tribute  which  his 
tory  accords  to  those  who  fight  as  privates  in  the  battles 
of  human  progress,  with  all  the  more  devotion  and  fidelity 
because  their  names  will  never  be  known.  Whenever  a 
man  earns  the  respect  of  the  community  in  which  he 
resides,  some  part  of  that  respect,  some  breath  of  that  fra 
grance  is  reflected  upon  the  race  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

216 


CHARLES  W.  ANDERSOA? 

As  a  race,  we  have  done  much,  but  we  must  not  forget 
how  much  more  there  is  still  to  do.  We  have  already 
demonstrated  the  possession  of  powers,  but  we  must  now 
bring  forth  the  fruits  of  sustained  racial  achievement.  To 
some  extent  we  have  been  given  opportunity,  but  we  must 
not  cease  to  remember  that  no  race  can  be  given  relative 
rank — it  must  win  equality  of  rating  for  itself.  Hence,  we 
must  not  only  acquire  education,  but  character  as  well. 
It  is  not  only  necessary  that  we  should  speak  well,  but  it 
is  more  necessary  that  we  should  speak  the  truth.  We 
must  not  only  acquire  that  culture  which  is  the  golden 
key  that  unlocks  all  doors  and  unbars  all  gates,  but  we 
must  cultivate  that  straightforwardness  of  purpose  and 
unconquerable  determination  which  enables  a  people  to 
face  conditions  "without  fear  and  without  reproach/' 

And  so  the  last  suggestion  comes  which  the  hour  pre 
sents.  In  the  work  of  race  advancement,  we  need  the 
service  and  assistance  of  all  true  men  and  women.  We 
must  have  the  co-operation  of  all  sections  and  all  condi 
tions.  The  cotton-fields  of  Alabama,  the  sugar-planta 
tions  of  Louisiana,  and  the  coal-mines  of  Tennessee;  the 
great  lakes  of  the  North  which  winter  roofs  with  ice,  and 
from  which  drips  refreshing  coolness  through  the  hot 
summer  months,  from  the  fisheries  and  the  factories, 
from  wheat-fields  and  pine  forests,  from  meadows  bil 
lowed  with  golden  grain  and  orchards  bending  beneath 
their  burdens  of  golden  fruit,  this  advance  movement 
must  receive  support.  The  humble  laborer  following  his 
plow  afield  must  do  his  part;  the  blacksmith  at  his  forge, 
the  lawyer  at  the  bar,  the  fisherman  on  the  banks,  the 

217 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

man  of  science  putting  nature  to  the  question,  all,  without 
distinction  and  without  exception,  must  contribute, 
according  to  his  station  and  his  opportunity,  to  the 
hastening  of  the  day  when  the  Negro  shall  take  his  place 
by  the  side  of  the  other  great  race  of  men  and  form  that 
grand  spectacle  which  Tennyson  had  in  mind  when  he 
spoke  of  "the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the 
world." 


THE  PARTY  OF  FREEDOM  AND  THE  FREEDMEN 
—  A  RECIPROCAL  DUTY* 

BY  WILLIAM  SANDERS  SCARBOROUGH,  D.D.,  LL.D 

WILLIAM  SANDERS  SCARBOROUGH,  M.  A.,  Ph.  D.,  LL.D.,  President  ofWil- 
berforce  University,  Ohio.  Author  of  "First  Lessons  in  Greek,"  the  first  and  only 
Greek  book  written  by  a  Negro,  largely  used  as  text-book  in  both  white  and  Negro 
schools.  Author  of  a  large  number  of  classical  interpretations,  and  philological 
pamphlets. 

Slavery  has  been  well  called  the  "perfected  curse  of 
the  ages."  Every  civilization,  ancient  and  modern,  has 
experienced  its  blighting,  withering  effect,  and  it  has  cost 
thrones  to  learn  the  lesson  that 

"The  laws  of  changeless  justice  blind 

Oppressor  and  oppressed"; 
that 

"Close  as  sin  and  suffering  joined," 
these  two 

"March  to  Fate— abreast. " 

Since  the  world  began,  freedom  has  been  at  war  with 
all  that  savored  of  servitude.  The  sentiment  of  liberty 
is  innate  in  every  human  breast.  Freedom  of  speech  and 
of  action — the  right  of  every  man  to  be  his  own  master — 
has  ever  been  the  inestimable  privilege  sought,  the  boon 


*Address  delivered  at  the  Lincoln  Day  Banquet,  Dayton,  Ohio,  Feb.  n, 
1899. 

219 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

most  craved.  For  this  guerdon  men  have  fought;  for 
this  they  have  even  gladly  died. 

It  was  the  unquenchable  desire  for  liberty  that  brought 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  Plymouth  Rock.  They  knew  that 
all  that  is  highest  and  noblest  in  the  human  soul  is  fostered 
to  its  greatest  development  only  under  the  blazing  sun 
light  of  freedom.  And  it  was  the  same  flame  burning  hi 
the  heart  of  the  young  nation  planted  on  these  Western 
shores  that  led  to  the  ratification  of  the  sentiment  placed 
by  the  hand  of  Thomas  Jefferson  in  the  corner-stone  of 
our  American  independence:  "We  hold  these  truths  to 
be  self-evident — that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal, 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights;  that  among  them  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Here  was  heralded  to  the 
nation  prophetic  freedom  for  all  mankind  and  for  all 
generations. 

However,  the  years  of  bondage  for  Africa's  sons  and 
daughters  in  this  fair  land  stretched  on  over  a  half  century 
more  before  the  issue  was  raised.  But  at  last  the  grasping 
arms  of  the  gigantic  octopus,  that  was  feeding  at  the 
nation's,  heart,  reached  out  too  far,  and  the  combat  with 
the  monster  was  begun.  Then  that  laurelled  champion 
and  leader  of  freedom's  cause,  Charles  S.  Sumner,  laid 
his  hand  upon  that  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
declared  that  the  nation  was  "dedicated  to  liberty  and 
the  rights  of  human  nature. " 

I  count  it  the  glory  of  that  gifted  humanitarian  that 
he  gave  his  magnificent  talents  and  energies  to  the  organ 
ization  of  a  party  that  could  add  to  its  amor  patria  the 

220 


WILLIAM  S.  SCARBOROUGH 

larger,  broader,  nobler  love  of  freedom  for  all  mankind; 
and  I  count  it  the  glory  of  that  party  that  it  stood  for 

"the  voice  of  a  people — uprisen,  awake"; 

that  it  was  "born  to  make  men  free." 

No  matter  what  name  has  been  inscribed  on  its  banner 
during  its  existence  of  a  full  half  century,  the  cause  that 
the  party  of  freedom  espoused  has  given  its  standard- 
bearer  a  right  to  claim  that  it,  and  it  alone,  is  the  legit 
imate  heir  to  power  in  this  land  where  the  forefathers 
sought  the  liberty  the  Old  World  denied.  Who  dares 
dispute  the  claim?  Who  dares  challenge  the  assertion? 
Time  and  events  have  sanctioned  it;  age  has  but  strength 
ened  it.  And  to-day,  holding  as  tenaciously  the  same 
principles  of  truth  and  justice,  the  party  that,  among  the 
parties  of  this  Republic,  alone  stands  as  the  synonym  of 
freedom  is  the  Republican  party. 

None  dare  gainsay  it.  And,  among  the  growing 
multitudes  in  this  broad  land  of  ours,  none  know  this 
better  than  ten  millions  of  Afro-Americans  who  but  for 
its  strong  arm  of  power  might  still  be  suffering  from 
"Man's  inhumanity  to  man." 

Forget  it?  The  mightiest  draughts  from  Lethe's 
stream  could  not  blot  from  the  remembrance  of  the  race 
the  deed  of  that  Republican  leader  enthroned  upon  the 
seat  of  government,  the  deed  of  the  immortal  Lincoln, 
whose  birth  we  commemorate  here  to-night,  the  deed  of 
that  second  Abraham  who,  true  to  his  name  as  the 
"father  of  the  faithful,"  struck  the  chains  from  the 
Negro's  limbs  and  bade  him  stand  forever  free. 

221 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

But  did  the  great  work  stop  there?  No;  the  fast 
following  amendments  to  the  Constitution  show  that  the 
party  of  freedom  never  paused;  and  the  bond  forged 
during  the  long  years  of  struggle  and  riveted  by  emanci 
pation  was  indissolubly  welded  when  that  party  crowned 
the  freedman  with  the  glorious  rights  and  privileges  of 
citizenship.  Ah,  what  lamentations  loud  and  long  filled 
the  land!  What  dire  predictions  smote  the  nation's  ear! 
What  a  multitude  of  evils  imagination  turned  loose  like  a 
horde  of  Furies!  What  a  war  of  opinion  raged  'twixt 
friends  and  foes  of  the  race  that  drew  the  first  full  breath 
of  freedom !  More  than  three  decades  have  passed.  Have 
these  dismal  prophecies  been  fulfilled?  No  race  under 
the  sun  has  been  so  patient  under  calumny,  under  oppres 
sion,  under  mob  violence;  no  race  has  ever  shown  itself  so 
free  from  resentment. 

But  it  has  been  said  the  Negro  was  not  worth  the 
struggle.  Not  worth  the  struggle  when,  at  every  call  to 
arms  in  the  nation's  history,  the  black  man  has  nobly 
responded,  whether  slave  or  freeman?  Not  worth  the 
struggle  when,  in  the  Revolution,  on  Lake  Erie  with 
Perry,  at  Port  Hudson,  at  Millikens  Bend,  in  that  fearful 
crater  at  Petersburg,  he  shed  his  blood  freely  in  the 
nation's  behalf?  Not  worth  the  struggle,  when  he  won 
his  way  from  spade  to  epaulet  in  the  defense  of  the 
nation's  honor?  The freedmen fathers  were  neither  cowards 
nor  traitors.  Nor  do  the  sons  disgrace  their  sires. 

Who  saved  the  Rough  Riders  from  annihilation  at 
Las  Guasimas?  Who  stormed  with  unparallelled  bravery 
the  heights  at  El  Caney  and  swept  gallantly  foremost  in 

222 


WILLIAM  S.  SCARBOROUGH 

that  magnificent  charge  up  San  Juan  hill?  Comrades, 
leaders,  onlookers — all  with  one  voice  have  made  reply: 
"The  Negro  soldier."  Aye;  the  race  has  proved  its 
worth,  and  the  whole  country,  irrespective  of  party  or 
section,  owes  it  a  debt,  not  only  for  its  heroic  service  on 
the  battle-field  in  times  of  national  peril,  which  was  its 
duty,  but  for  its  splendid  self-control  generally,  under 
the  most  harassing  situations,  under  most  inexcusable 
assaults. 

No;  the  faith  of  the  party  of  freedom  in  the  Negro  has 
not  been  unfounded.  In  all  these  years  the  race  has  been 
steadily  gaining  wealth,  education,  refinement,  places  of 
responsibility  and  power.  It  might  have  done  far  more 
for  the  lasting  good  of  all  concerned,  had  it  learned  that 
in  all  things  the 

"...  Heights  are  not  gained  by  a  single  bound, 
But  we  built  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise, . . . 
And  we  mount  to  its  summit  round  by  round. " 

But  the  prophecies  of  the  past  are  far  behind  us.  The 
world  has  passed  its  verdict  on  what  has  been.  Mistakes 
must  yield  us  profit  as  the  problems  of  the  future  confront 
us.  We  are  to  look  forward  with  hope.  And  in  prepara 
tion  for  that  future, 

"The  riddling  Sphynx  puts  dim  things  from  our  minds, 
And  sets  us  to  the  questions  at  our  doors. " 

As  the  Republican  party  and  the  Negro  face  the 
coming  years,  one  question  is  of  equal  moment  to  both. 
What  shall  be  the  mutual  relations  in  the  future?  Shall 
the  party  of  freedom  declare  at  an  end  its  duty  toward 

223 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  party  it  made  men  and  citizens?  On  the  other  hand, 
shall  the  Negro  say:  "Indebtedness  ceased  with  our 
fathers;  we  are  free  to  make  alliance  where  we  will"? 

In  view  of  the  blood  shed  so  freely  for  Republican 
principles  by  the  Negro  as  slave  and  freeman;  in  view  of 
the  loyalty,  the  courage,  the  patriotism,  the  strength, 
and  the  needs  of  the  race;  in  view  of  this  country's  pro 
spective  broadened  domain  and  the  millions  of  dusky 
wards  to  be  added  to  the  nation  o'er  which  the  American 
eagle  hovers  to-day;  and  in  view  of  the  principles  that 
inhere  in  Republicanism,  the  party  of  freedom  should 
find  but  one  answer :  "  It  is  and  shall  be  our  duty  to  view 
you  ever  as  men  and  citizens,  to  see  that  no  chain  of  our 
forging  manacles  you  to  lower  planes,  that  no  bar  is 
thrown  by  us  across  your  pathway  up  the  hill  of  progress, 
to  help  maintain  your  rights,  to  throw  the  weight  of  our 
influence  for  fair  treatment,  for  the  side  of  law  and  order 
and  justice.  The  Republican  party  must  not  forget  for  a 
moment  the  truth  of  the  argument  that  Demosthenes 
once  made  against  Philip  with  such  striking  force, — 
"All  power  is  unstable  that  is  founded  on  injustice."  This 
party  cannot  afford  to  be  less  than  just.  The  Negro 
should  not  ask  for  more. 

This  duty  laid  upon  itself  on  the  one  hand,  it  becomes 
incumbent  upon  the  Negro  to  reciprocate,  and  the  recip 
rocation  calls  for  his  support  of  the  party.  This  should 
be  a  support,  wise  and  open-eyed,  born  of  appreciation 
and  intelligence.  It  should  be  a  support,  steadfast  and 
loyal,  based  upon  faith  in  the  party's  motives  and  the 
knowledge  that  it  has  stood  and  still  stands  for  all  that 

224 


WILLIAM  S.  SCARBOROUGH 

the  Negro  holds  most  dear.  It  should  be  a  support  that 
frees  itself  from  selfish  leaders  and  ranting  demagogues, 
that  puts  aside  all  mere  personal  gain,  and  seeks  the  good 
of  the  race  as  a  whole  that  it,  too,  may  be  lifted  up.  And 
lastly,  it  should  be  a  support  that  looks  for  no  reward  but 
that  which  comes  because  of  true  worth  and  ability. 

Reciprocity  becomes  a  mutual  duty,  for  there  are 
mutual  needs.  The  Negro's  strength  is  not  to  be  ignored 
by  the  party;  but  the  race  cannot  stand  alone.  It  needs 
alliance  with  friendly  power;  and  there  is  no  friend  like 
the  tried  friend,  no  party  for  the  freedman  like  the  party 
that  stands  upon  the  high,  broad  platform  of  freedom 
and  human  rights,  irrespective  of  race,  or  color,  or  pre 
vious  condition. 

But  having  said  this,  I  would  be  false  to  the  race  and 
my  own  convictions  did  I  not  pause  to  give  the  warning 
that,  after  all,  neither  parties  nor  politics  alone  can  save 
the  Negro.  He  needs  to  make  a  new  start  in  his  civil  and 
political  career.  He  must  pay  less  attention  to  politics 
and  more  to  business,  to  industry,  to  education,  to  the 
building  up  of  a  strong  and  sturdy  manhood  everywhere — 
to  the  assimilation  generally  of  all  that  goes  to  demand  the 
world's  respect  and  consideration.  He  must  lop  off,  as 
so  many  incubi,  the  professional  Negro  office-seeker,  the 
professional  Negro  office-holder,  and  the  Negro  politician 
who  aspires  to  lead  the  race,  for  the  revenue  that  is  in  it. 
The  best  men,  the  wisest,  the  most  unselfish,  and  above 
all,  the  men  of  the  most  profound  integrity  and  upright 
ness,  must  take  the  helm  or  retrogression  will  be  the 
inevitable  result.  Politics  followed  as  an  end  has  been 

225 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  curse  of  the  race.  Under  it  problems  have  multiplied, 
and  under  it  the  masses  have  remained  longer  than  they 
should  in  the  lower  stages  of  development.  Only  in  the 
hands  of  men  of  noble  mold,  and  used  only  as  a  means  to 
an  end,  can  politics  accomplish  the  highest  good  for  all 
the  race. 

The  Negro  can  keep  all  this  in  view  and  yet  yield 
loyal  support  to  the  party  that  set  him  free. 

Let  the  party  of  freedom  and  the  freedmen  recognize 
and  observe  these  duties  as  reciprocal,  and  a  force  may 
be  created,  having  its  basis  on  undying  principles,  that 
will  pave  the  way  for  the  ultimate  success  of  the  highest 
aspirations  of  each — a  force  that  will  stretch  southward 
and  westward  bearing,  wherever  Old  Glory  floats,  the 
promise  to  the  oppressed:  Freedom,  equality,  prosperity. 
And  though  men  may  apostatize,  this  mutual  righteous 
cause  shall  live  to  sway  for  unnumbered  years  the  fortunes 
of  this  grand  Republic,  for  the  God  who  reared  the  con 
tinents  above  the  seas  and  peopled  them  with  nations, 
who  gave  these  nations  freedom  of  conscience  and  will, 
and  who  has  watched  their  rise  and  fall  from  the  dawn  of 
creation,  still  guides  the  destinies  of  races  and  of  parties, 
and  standeth 

"...  within  the  shadow, 
Keeping  watch  above  his  own. " 


226 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  HISTORY  CONSIDERED 
IN  RELATION  TO  RACE  PROBLEMS  IN 
AMERICA* 

BY  NATHAN  F.  MOSSELL,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 
Surgeon-in-Chief,  Frederick  Douglass  Hospital,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  history  will  testify  that 
the  blacks  were  a  fundamental  element  in  the  civilized 
races  of  antiquity,  as  also  of  the  primitive  races  of  south 
ern  Europe.  In  fact,  all  history  is  pregnant  with  traces 
of  the  Negro  element.  The  world  will  ever  look  with 
wonder  and  amazement  upon  the  marks  of  ancient  cul 
ture  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and  we  may  continue  to 
look  as  far  back  as  records  and  inscriptions  lend  us  light, 
only  to  find  the  black  man,  above  all  others,  leading  in 
the  ancient  arts  and  sciences. 

History  places  the  earliest  civilization  in  Egypt.  The 
ruling  tribes  among  the  people  were  called  the  Karaites, 
the  "sunburnt  race,"  according  to  Dr.  Winchell.  Says 
Professor  J.  Boughton :  "The  wanderings  of  these  people 
since  prehistoric  history  began  has  not  been  confined  to 
the  American  continent.  In  Paleolithic  times  the 
black  man  roamed  all  over  the  fairer  portions  of  the  Old 
World;  Europe,  as  well  as  Asia  and  Africa,  acknowledged 
his  sway.  No  white  man  had,  so  far,  appeared  to  dis- 

*From  Howard's  American  Magazine. 

227 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

pute  his  authority  in  the  vine-clad  valleys  of  France  or 
Germany,  or  upon  the  classic  hills  of  Greece  or  Rome. 
The  black  man  preceded  all  others,  and  carried  Paleo 
lithic  culture  to  its  very  height." 

The  history  of  all  the  lands  has  been  but  the  history 
of  succeeding  races;  more  often,  however,  by  fusion  of 
different  racial  types  and  by  the  mingling  of  various 
tribes  and  peoples,  have  been  evolved  new  races,  superior 
to  any  of  the  original  types.  Greece  and  Rome,  the 
study  of  history  will  tell  you,  had  their  race  and  social 
problems.  Inter-marriage  at  last  settled  the  question. 
The  ethnology  of  Spain  tells  the  same  story.  There  is 
not  a  nation  on  the  globe  of  pure  ethnic  character. 
From  the  ethnic  standpoint,  the  blood  of  the  black  race 
is  everywhere  apparent.  Ask  the  Frenchman,  the  Italian, 
the  Spaniard,  whence  comes  his  dark  skin  and  hair;  it 
surely  does  not  come  from  the  Aryan  blonde.  Ethnology 
alone  can  give  the  answer.  In  considering  the  future  of 
our  racial  problems,  it  is  fitting  that  we  shall  recall  these 
facts  of  history  to  know  the  Negro's  past  place  in  the 

world's  annals. 

***** 

American  slavery,  the  most  accursed  institution  the 
world  has  ever  known,  did  more  to  degrade  the  master 
than  the  slave,  a  truth  most  often  overlooked.  It  is  here 
I  take  strong  exception  to  the  literal  interpretation  of 
the  injunction,  "Whosoever  will  smite  thee  on  the  right 
cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also/'  and  "If  any  man 
take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also."  Not 
so;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  should  resist  evil  with  our 

228 


NATHAN  F.  MOSSELL 

energy.  The  tyrant  who  smites  you  on  one  cheek  is 
only  made  more  of  a  brute  by  permitting  him  to  continue 
in  the  practise  by  smiting  you  on  the  other.  It  is  our 
moral  duty,  therefore,  to  resist  him,  and  not  more  for 
our  own  sake  than  for  his.  The  brutalizing  influence  of 
slavery  upon  the  master  class  is  the  curse  of  the  Southern 
States  to-day,  and  has  much  more  to  do  with  the  dif 
ficulties  of  solving  the  race  problems  than  does  the  ig 
norance  of  the  blacks.  The  Government  is  not  guiltless 
in  this  matter  of  interpretation  of  the  scriptural  injunc 
tion.  In  the  matter  of  State  rights,  Southern  election 
laws,  and  mob  violence,  our  Government  has  turned  the 
other  cheek  also.  What  has  been  the  result?  Why  the 
tyrants  continue  to  become  more  and  more  brutal,  until 
they  are  not  only  running  black  men  out,  but  they  have 
recently,  at  the  muzzle  of  the  shot  gun,  forced  their 
own  kith  and  kin,  men  to  the  manor  born,  to  leave  the 
States.  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  proclaiming  that  this 
brutality  is  a  legacy  left  us  by  slavery,  against  which  we 
have  to  contend,  making  itself  felt  in  the  organized  mob 
and  in  disregard  of  constituted  authority. 

In  these  days  of  imperialism  and  territorial  expansion, 
when  there  is,  likewise,  much  discussion  on  the  subject 
of  inferior  races,  it  is  fitting  that  we  should  place  our 
selves  aright  upon  the  question  of  suffrage  and  rights  of 
franchise.  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Jr.,  says:  "Whoso 
ever  laments  the  scope  of  suffrage,  and  talks  of  disfran 
chising  men  on  account  of  ignorance  or  poverty,  has  as 
little  comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  self-government 
as  a  blind  man  has  of  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  I  de- 

229 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

clare  my  belief  that  we  are  suffering,  not  from  a  too 
extended  ballot,  but  from  one  too  limited  and  unrepre 
sentative.  We  enunciate  a  principle  of  government, 
and  then  deny  it  in  practise.  If  experience  has  estab 
lished  anything,  it  is  that  the  interest  of  one  class  is 
never  safe  in  the  hands  of  another.  There  is  no  class  so 
poor  or  ignorant  in  a  republic  that  it  does  not  know  its 
own  suffering  and  needs  better  than  the  wealthy  or  edu 
cated  classes.  By  the  rule  of  justice,  it  has  the  same  right 
precisely  to  give  it  legal  expression.  That  expression 
is  bound  to  come,  and  it  is  wiser  to  have  it  come  through 
the  ballot-box  than  through  mobs  and  violence,  born  of 
a  feeling  of  despair  and  misery."  Those  States  in  the 
South  which  are  passing  laws  restricting  suffrage,  to 
promote  the  selfish  ends  of  a  class,  are  sowing  to  the 
wind  and  will  surely  reap  the  whirlwind.  In  a  republi 
can  government,  supposed  to  be  ruled  by  the  popular 
vote,  a  people's  liberty  has  practically  been  taken  when 
the  right  to  vote  is  denied  them.  In  such  States,  personal 
liberty,  the  right  to  testify  in  courts  of  law,  the  right  to 
hold,  buy,  and  sell  real  estate,  and,  in  fact,  all  other 
rights,  become  mere  privileges,  held  at  the  option  of 
others.  People  are  no  longer  free  when  the  rights  of 
franchise  have  been  annulled.  Slavery  is  truly  re-enacted 
in  those  States  which  have  succeeded  in  disfranchising 
the  Negro. 

I  have  neither  patience  nor  respect  for  those  among 
us  who  are  truckling  to  the  prejudice  of  our  enemies  by 
giving  credence  to  the  lie  that  the  ballot  was  placed  in 
the  black  man's  hand  too  soon.  Lowell  was  right  when 

230 


NATHAN  F.  MOSSELL 

he  said:  "The  right  to  vote  makes  a  safety-valve  of 
every  voter,  and  the  best  way  to  teach  a  man  to  vote  is 
to  give  him  a  chance  to  practise.  It  is  cheaper  in  the 
long  run  to  lift  men  up  than  to  hold  them  down ;  the  bal 
lot  in  their  hands  is  less  dangerous  to  society  than  a 
sense  of  wrong  in  their  heads."  The  so-called  Negro 
domination  of  the  reconstruction  period  has  no  record 
of  misrule  such  as  exists  in  most  of  the  Southern  States 
to-day.  It  is  our  privilege  (an  oppressed  people,  who 
know  by  bitter  experience  whereof  we  speak)  to  give  this 
government  timely  warnings  as  to  its  duties  toward  the 
inhabitants  of  our  newly  acquired  territory. 

I  have  no  confidence  in  the  Government's  ability  to 
ameliorate  the  race  conflicts  of  the  South  through  the 
course  recently  outlined  by  the  President  of  this  nation 
in  speeches  of  flattery  and  encomiu  ms  upon  the  dead  and 
living  heroes  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  This  policy 
of  conciliation  was  repeatedly  attempted  before  the  war, 
with  the  results  that  the  slave  influence  continued  to 
spread  further  north  and  west.  It  was  proved  then,  as 
it  ever  shall  be,  that  no  nation  can  succeed  by  making 
a  compact  with  the  devil.  One  must  tremble  for  this 
country's  future  when  they  read  upon  the  statute-books 
of  the  Southern  States  these  diabolical  laws  against  social 
purity,  against  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  our  citi 
zens.  It  is  hoped  that  the  coming  Congress  will  rise 
to  a  sense  of  our  impending  danger,  and  see  to  it  that  the 
strong  arm  of  the  Government  is  brought  forward  to 
protect  each  and  every  citizen  in  his  civil  and  political 
rights.  Until  this  is  done,  we  are  by  no  means  prepared 

231 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUELCE 

to  add  nine  millions  more  of  a  dark  race  to  those  with 
which  we  now  have  to  deal.  There  are  those  already 
high  in  the  nation's  council  who  predict  that  the  result 
of  our  present  war*  will  be  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing, 
that  the  nation's  incapacity  to  deal  justly  with  our 
recently  liberated  slaves  proves  our  inability  to  deal 
with  nine  millions  more  of  untutored  and  so-called  in 
ferior  people. 

***** 

The  final  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  may  be 
forecasted  thus:  The  Negro  element  in  this  country  is 
permanent  and  indestructible.  So  great  are  the  numbers 
of  the  Negroes,  and  so  intimate  their  relations  with  the 
white  people,  that  it  is  safe  to  say  without  fear  of  con 
tradiction  that  the  status  of  the  Negro  element  will 
determine  in  a  large  degree  the  future  of  the  white.  Let 
this  truth  once  be  learned.  Let  the  thoughtful  people 
of  the  nation  cease  trying  to  deceive  themselves.  The 
inevitable  teachings  of  history  will  not  be  reversed.  The 
blood  of  these  varied  races  will  finally  be  mingled  until 
race  distinctions  will  ultimately  be  obliterated.  The 
docile  nature  of  the  Negro  race,  his  intimate  domestic 
and  other  relations  with  the  whites,  make  this  conclu 
sion  inevitable.  The  two  races  are  complements  of  each 
other  and  cannot  be  separated. 

*  War  with  Spain. 


232 


A  DEFENSE  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE* 

BY  HON.  GEORGE  H.  WHITE 

Member  of  Congress  from  North  Carolina 

Mr.  Chairman: 

I  want  to  enter  a  plea  for  the  colored  man,  the  colored 
woman,  the  colored  boy,  and  the  colored  girl  of  this 
country.  I  would  not  thus  digress  from  the  question  at 
issue  and  detain  the  House  in  a  discussion  of  the  interests 
of  this  particular  people  at  this  tune  but  for  the  constant 
and  the  persistent  efforts  of  certain  gentlemen  upon  this 
floor  to  mold  and  rivet  public  sentiment  against  us  as  a 
people,  and  to  lose  no  opportunity  to  hold  up  the  unfor 
tunate  few,  who  commit  crimes  and  depredations  and 
lead  lives  of  infamy  and  shame,  as  other  races  do,  as  fair 
specimens  of  representatives  of  the  entire  colored  race. 
And  at  no  time,  perhaps,  during  the  56th  Congress  were 
these  charges  and  countercharges,  containing,  as  they  do, 
slanderous  statements,  more  persistently  magnified  and 
pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  nation  than  during  the 
consideration  of  the  recent  reapportionment  bill,  which  is 
now  a  law.  As  stated  some  days  ago  on  this  floor  by  me, 
I  then  sought  diligently  to  obtain  an  opportunity  to 
answer  some  of  the  statements  made  by  gentlemen  from 

*  Extracts  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  January 
29,  1901. 

233 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

different  States,  but  the  privilege  was  denied  me;  and  I 
therefore  must  embrace  this  opportunity  to  say,  out  of 
season,  perhaps,  that  which  I  was  not  permitted  to  say 
in  season. 

In  the  catalogue  of  members  of  Congress  in  this 
House  perhaps  none  have  been  more  persistent  in  their 
determination  to  bring  the  black  man  into  disrepute  and, 
with  a  labored  effort,  to  show  that  he  was  unworthy  of 
the  right  of  citizenship  than  my  colleague  from  North 
Carolina,  Mr.  Kitchin.  During  the  first  session  of  this 
Congress,  while  the  Constitutional  amendment  was  pend 
ing  in  North  Carolina,  he  labored  long  and  hard  to  show 
that  the  white  race  was  at  all  times  and  under  all  circum 
stances  superior  to  the  Negro  by  inheritance  if  not  other 
wise,  and  the  excuse  for  his  party  supporting  that  amend 
ment,  which  has  since  been  adopted,  was  that  an  illiterate 
Negro  was  unfit  to  participate  in  making  the  laws  of  a 
sovereign  State  and  the  administration  and  execution  of 
them;  but  an  illiterate  white  man  living  by  his  side,  with 
no  more  or  perhaps  not  as  much  property,  with  no  more 
exalted  character,  no  higher  thoughts  of  civilization,  no 
more  knowledge  of  the  handicraft  of  government,  had  by 
birth,  because  he  was  white,  inherited  some  peculiar 
qualification,  clear,  I  presume,  only  in  the  mind  of  the 
gentleman  who  endeavored  to  impress  it  upon  others, 
that  entitled  him  to  vote,  though  he  knew  nothing  what 
ever  of  letters.  It  is  true,  in  my  opinion,  that  men  brood 
over  things  at  times  which  they  would  have  exist  until 
they  delude  themselves  and  actually,  sometimes  honestly, 
believe  that  such  things  do  exist. 

234 


GEORGE  E.  WHITE 

I  would  like  to  call  the  gentleman's  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  the 
granting  of  any  title  of  nobility  to  any  citizen  thereof, 
and  while  it  does  not  in  letters  forbid  the  inheritance  of 
this  superior  caste,  I  believe  in  the  fertile  imagination  of 
the  gentleman  promulgating  it,  his  position  is  at  least  in 
conflict  with  the  spirit  of  that  organic  law  of  the  land. 
He  insists  and,  I  believe,  has  introduced  a  resolution  in 
this  House  for  the  repeal  of  the  fifteenth  amendment  to 

the  Constitution. 

***** 

It  would  be  unfair,  however,  for  me  to  leave  the  infer 
ence  upon  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  me  that  all  of  the 
white  people  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  hold  views 
with  Mr.  Kitchin  and  think  as  he  does.  Thank  God  there 
are  many  noble  exceptions  to  the  example  he  sets,  that, 
too,  in  the  Democratic  party;  men  who  have  never  been 
afraid  that  one  uneducated,  poor,  depressed  Negro  could 
put  to  flight  and  chase  into  degradation  two  educated, 
wealthy,  thrifty  white  men.  There  never  has  been,  nor 
ever  will  be,  any  Negro  domination  in  that  State,  and  no 
one  knows  it  any  better  than  the  Democratic  party.  It 
is  a  convenient  howl,  however,  often  resorted  to  in  order 
to  consummate  a  diabolical  purpose  by  scaring  the  weak 
and  gullible  whites  into  support  of  measures  and  men 
suitable  to  the  demagogue  and  the  ambitious  office- 
seeker,  whose  craving  for  office  overshadows  and  puts  to 
flight  all  other  considerations,  fair  or  unfair. 

As  I  stated  on  a  former  occasion,  this  young  statesman 
has  ample  tune  to  learn  better  and  more  useful  knowledge 

235 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

than  he  has  exhibited  in  many  of  his  speeches  upon  this 
floor,  and  I  again  plead  for  him  the  statute  of  youth  for 
the  wild  and  spasmodic  notions  which  he  has  endeavored 
to  rivet  upon  his  colleagues  and  this  country.  But  I 
regret  that  Mr.  Kitchin  is  not  alone  upon  this  floor  in 
these  peculiar  notions  advanced.  I  refer  to  another 
young  member  of  Congress,  hailing  from  the  State  of 
Alabama,  Mr.  Underwood. 

***** 

It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  the  Negro  vote  in  the 
State  of  Alabama,  as  well  as  most  of  the  other  Southern 
States,  has  been  effectively  suppressed,  either  one  way 
or  the  other — in  some  instances  by  constitutional  amend 
ment  and  State  legislation,  in  others  by  cold-blooded 
fraud  and  intimidation,  but  whatever  the  method  pur 
sued,  it  is  not  denied,  but  frankly  admitted  in  the  speeches 
in  this  House,  that  the  black  vote  has  been  eliminated  to  a 
large  extent.  Then,  when  some  of  us  insist  that  the 
plain  letter  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
which  all  of  us  have  sworn  to  support,  should  be  carried 
out,  as  expressed  in  the  second  section  of  the  fourteenth 
amendment  thereof. 

That  section  makes  the  duty  of  every  member  of 
Congress  plain,  and  yet  the  gentleman  from  Alabama 
[Mr.  Underwood]  says  that  the  attempt  to  enforce  this 
section  of  the  organic  law  is  the  throwing  down  of  fire 
brands,  and  notifies  the  world  that  this  attempt  to  execute 
the  highest  law  of  the  land  will  be  retaliated  by  the 
South,  and  the  inference  is  that  the  Negro  will  be  even 

236 


GEORGE  H.  WHITE 

more  severely  punished  than  the  horrors  through  which 
he  has  already  come. 

Let  me  make  it  plain :  The  divine  law,  as  well  as  most 
of  the  State  laws,  says,  in  substance:  "He  that  sheddeth 
man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed. "  A  high 
wayman  commits  murder,  and  when  the  officers  of  the 
law  undertake  to  arrest,  try,  and  punish  him  commen 
surate  with  the  enormity  of  his  crime,  he  straightens 
himself  up  to  his  full  height  and  defiantly  says  to  them: 
"Let  me  alone;  I  will  not  be  arrested,  I  will  not  be  tried, 
I'll  have  none  of  the  execution  of  your  laws,  and  in  the 
event  you  attempt  to  execute  your  laws  upon  me,  I  will 
see  to  it  many  more  men,  women,  or  children  are  mur 
dered." 

Here's  the  plain  letter  of  the  Constitution,  the  plain, 
simple,  sworn  duty  of  every  member  of  Congress;  yet 
these  gentlemen  from  the  South  say  "Yes,  we  have 
violated  your  Constitution  of  the  nation ;  we  regarded  it 
as  a  local  necessity;  and  now,  if  you  undertake  to  punish 
us  as  the  Constitution  prescribes,  we  will  see  to  it  that 
our  former  deeds  of  disloyalty  to  that  instrument,  our 
former  acts  of  disfranchisement  and  opposition  to  the 
highest  law  of  the  land  will  be  repeated  manifoldly." 

Not  content  with  all  that  has  been  done  to  the  black 
man,  not  because  of  any  deeds  that  he  has  done,  Mr. 
Underwood  advances  the  startling  information  that  these 
people  have  been  thrust  upon  the  whites  of  the  South, 
forgetting,  perhaps,  the  horrors  of  the  slave-trade,  the 
unspeakable  horrors  of  the  transit  from  the  shores  of 
Africa  by  means  of  the  middle  passage  to  the  American 

237 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

clime;  the  enforced  bondage  of  the  blacks  and  their 
descendants  for  two  and  a  half  centuries  in  the  United 
States.  Now,  for  the  first  time  perhaps  in  the  history 
of  our  lives,  the  information  comes  that  these  poor,  help 
less,  and  in  the  main  inoffensive  people  were  thrust  upon 

our  Southern  brethren. 

***** 

If  the  gentleman  to  whom  I  have  referred  will  pardon 
me,  I  would  like  to  advance  the  statement  that  the  musty 
records  of  1868,  filed  away  in  the  archives  of  Southern 
capitols,  as  to  what  the  Negro  was  thirty-two  years  ago, 
is  not  a  proper  standard  by  which  the  Negro  living  on  the 
threshold  of  the  twentieth  century  should  be  measured. 
Since  that  time  we  have  reduced  the  illiteracy  of  the  race 
at  least  45  per  cent.  We  have  written  and  published  near 
500  books.  We  have  nearly  300  newspapers,  3  of  which 
are  dailies.  We  have  now  in  practise  over  2,000  lawyers 
and  a  corresponding  number  of  doctors.  We  have  accu 
mulated  over  $12,000,000  worth  of  school  property  and 
about  $40,000,000  worth  of  church  property.  We  have 
about  140,000  farms  and  homes,  valued  at  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  $750,000,00x5,  and  personal  property  valued 
at  about  $  1 70,000,000.  We  have  raised  about  $  1 1 ,000,000 
for  educational  purposes,  and  the  property  per  capita 
for  every  colored  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  United 
States  is  estimated  at  $75. 

We  are  operating  successfully  several  banks,  com 
mercial  enterprises  among  our  people  in  the  Southland, 
including  i  silk-mill  and  i  cotton-factory.  We  have 
32,000  teachers  in  the  schools  of  the  country;  we  have 

238 


GEORGE  H.  WHITE 

built,  with  the  aid  of  our  friends,  about  20,000  churches, 
and  support  7  colleges,  17  academies,  50  high  schools,  5 
law  schools,  5  medical  schools,  and  25  theological  sem 
inaries.  We  have  over  600,000  acres  of  land  in  the  South 
alone.  The  cotton  produced,  mainly  by  black  labor,  has 
increased  from  4,669,770  bales  in  1860  to  11,235,000  in 
1899.  All  this  we  have  done  under  the  most  adverse 
circumstances.  We  have  done  it  in  the  face  of  lynch 
ing,  burning  at  the  stake,  with  the  humiliation  of  "Jim 
Crow"  cars,  the  disfranchisement  of  our  male  citizens, 
slander  and  degradation  of  our  women,  with  the  factories 
closed  against  us,  no  Negro  permitted  to  be  conductor  on 
the  railway-cars,  whether  run  through  the  streets  of  our 
cities  or  across  the  prairies  of  our  great  country,  no  Negro 
permitted  to  run  as  engineer  on  a  locomotive,  most  of 
the  mines  closed  against  us.  Labor-unions — carpenters, 
painters,  brick-masons,  machinists,  hackmen,  and  those 
supplying  nearly  every  conceivable  avocation  for  liveli 
hood  have  banded  themselves  together  to  better  their 
condition,  but,  with  few  exceptions,  the  black  face  has 
been  left  out.  The  Negroes  are  seldom  employed  in  our 
mercantile  stores.  At  this  we  do  not  wonder.  Some  day 
we  hope  to  have  them  employed  in  our  own  stores.  With 
all  these  odds  against  us,  we  are  forging  our  way  ahead, 
slowly,  perhaps,  but  surely.  You  tie  us  and  then  taunt 
us  for  a  lack  of  bravery,  but  one  day  we  will  break  the 
bonds.  You  may  use  our  labor  for  two  and  a  half  cen 
turies  and  then  taunt  us  for  our  poverty,  but  let  me 
remind  you  we  will  not  always  remain  poor.  You  may 
withhold  even  the  knowledge  of  how  to  read  God's  word 

239 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  learn  the  way  from  earth  to  glory  and  then  taunt  us 
for  our  ignorance,  but  we  would  remind  you  that  there 
is  plenty  of  room  at  the  top,  and  we  are  climbing. 

After  enforced  debauchery,  with  the  many  kindred 
horrors  incident  to  slavery,  it  comes  with  ill  grace  from 
the  perpetrators  of  these  deeds  to  hold  up  the  shortcom 
ings  of  some  of  our  race  to  ridicule  and  scorn. 

"The  new  man,  the  slave  who  has  grown  out  of  the 
ashes  of  thirty-five  years  ago,  is  inducted  into  the  polit 
ical  and  social  system,  cast  into  the  arena  of  manhood, 
where  he  constitutes  a  new  element  and  becomes  a 
competitor  for  all  its  emoluments.  He  is  put  upon  trial 
to  test  his  ability  to  be  counted  worthy  of  freedom,  worthy 
of  the  elective  franchise;  and  after  thirty-five  years  of 
struggling  against  almost  insurmountable  odds,  under 
conditions  but  little  removed  from  slavery  itself,  he  asks  a 
fair  and  just  judgment,  not  of  those  whose  prejudice  has 
endeavored  to  forestall,  to  frustrate  his  every  forward 
movement,  rather  those  who  have  lent  a  helping  hand, 
that  he  might  demonstrate  the  truth  of  'the  fatherhood 

of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.'" 
*    *    *    *    * 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  before  concluding  my  remarks  I 
want  to  submit  a  brief  recipe  for  the  solution  of  the  so- 
called  American  Negro  problem.  He  asks  no  special 
favors,  but  simply  demands  that  he  be  given  the  same 
chance  for  existence,  for  earning  a  livelihood,  for  raising 
himself  in  the  scales  of  manhood  and  womanhood  that 
are  accorded  to  kindred  nationalities.  Treat  him  as  a 
man;  go  into  his  home  and  learn  of  his  social  conditions; 

240 


GEORGE  H.  WHITE 

learn  of  his  cares,  his  troubles,  and  his  hopes  for  the 
future;  gain  his  confidence;  open  the  doors  of  industry 
to  him;  let  the  word  "Negro,"  "colored,"  and  "black" 
be  stricken  from  all  the  organizations  enumerated  in  the 
federation  of  labor. 

Help  him  to  overcome  his  weaknesses,  punish  the 
crime-committing  class  by  the  courts  of  the  land,  measure 
the  standard  of  the  race  by  its  best  material,  cease  to 
mold  prejudicial  and  unjust  public  sentiment  against 
him,  and  my  word  for  it,  he  will  learn  to  support,  hold  up 
the  hands  of,  and  join  in  with  that  political  party,  that 
institution,  whether  secular  or  religious,  in  every  com 
munity  where  he  lives,  which  is  destined  to  do  the  greatest 
good  for  the  greatest  number.  Obliterate,  race  hatred, 
party  prejudice,  and  help  us  to  achieve  nobler  ends, 
greater  results,  and  become  more  satisfactory  citizens  to 
our  brother  in  white. 

This,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  perhaps  the  Negroes'  tem 
porary  farewell  to  the  American  Congress;  but  let  me  say, 
Phoenix-like  he  will  rise  up  some  day  and  come  again. 
These  parting  words  are  in  behalf  of  an  outraged,  heart 
broken,  bruised,  and  bleeding,  but  God-fearing  people, 
faithful,  industrious,  loyal  people — rising  people,  full  of 
potential  force. 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  trial  of  Lord  Bacon,  when  the 
court  disturbed  the  counsel  for  the  defendant,  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  raised  himself  up  to  his  full  height  and,  addressing 
the  court,  said: 

"Sir,  I  am  pleading  for  the  life  of  a  human  being." 
241 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

The  only  apology  that  I  have  to  make  for  the  earnest 
ness  with  which  I  have  spoken  is  that  I  am  pleading  for 
the  life,  the  liberty,  the  future  happiness,  and  manhood- 
suffrage  for  one-eight  of  the  entire  population  of  the 
United  States. 


242 


THE  NEGRO'S  PART  IN  THE  REDEMPTION  OF 

AFRICA* 

BY  LEVI  J.  COPPIN, 
Bishop  A.M.  E.  Church 

The  land  once  lying  in  darkness,  but  now  fast  coming 
to  the  light,  is  claiming  the  best  thought  and  the  best 
energies  of  the  civilized  world. 

Africa,  on  account  of  a  lack  of  coast  indentations,  has 
been  the  last  among  the  continents  to  be  penetrated  by 
the  beneficent  influence  of  commerce;  and  this  largely 
accounts  for  that  long  obscurity,  during  which  itjwas 
given  the  name,  the  "Dark  Continent." 

Its  situation  beneath  the  line  of  the  Equator  has  had 
also  something  to  do  with  staying  the  onward  march  of 
civilization  from  without.  The  world  learned  first  to 
think  only  of  the  enervating  influence  of  a  torrid  sun 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  great  continent,  and  this  was 
not  inviting  to  immigration. 

Nations  have  reached  their  highest  and  best  develop 
ment,  not  by  isolation,  but  by  taking  advantage  of 
whatever  of  good  they  found  among  others.  But  as  the 
years  and  centuries  have  passed,  it  has  dawned  upon  the 
world  that  Africa  enjoys  the  unique  distinction  of  occupy 
ing  a  place  in  three  zones,  and  hence  offering  the  largest 

*Delivered  at  Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  February  1902. 

243 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

variety  of  climatic  influences  that  are  favorable  to  life 
and  health. 

Abounding  in  mineral  wealth,  with  millions  of  acres 
suitable  for  agriculture,  and  with  immense  forests  of 
valuable  wood;  with  palm  oil,  ivory,  and  other  desirable 
products,  Africa  is  now  being  sought  by  the  world's 
capital,  and  is  giving  rich  rewards  to  combined  capital 
and  labor. 

But  what  of  her  peoples?  When  as  a  Christian  Church 
we  speak  of  the  redemption  of  Africa,  we  do  not  refer  to 
her  material  resources  chiefly,  though  these  are  a  means 
to  an  end.  The  one  supreme  thought  with  us  is,  how  the 
millions  of  her  inhabitants  may  be  reached  by  the  light 
of  the  gospel  and  saved.  In  their  isolated  condition,  the 
people  have  for  long  centuries  become  the  victims  of 
customs  and  habits  not  in  keeping  with  the  better  life 
which  is  the  result  only  of  Christian  civilization.  The 
customs  and  habits  formed  and  fixed  by  centuries  cannot 
be  thoroughly  changed  by  a  few  years  of  effort.  The 
success  already  attained  by  missionary  enterprise  in 
Africa  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the  years  of  effort  it  has 
cost,  nor  by  the  amount  of  money  expended.  Missionary 
records  from  other  fields  will  fully  justify  this  statement. 
In  all  such  work  we  may  expect  to  have  the  exemplifica 
tion  of  nature's  course,  "first  the  blade,  then  the  ear; 
after  that,  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

One  hundred  and  sixty-six  years  have  passed  since  the 
Moravians,  as  pioneer  Protestant  missionaries  began 
work  on  the  Gold  Coast.  From  1736  to  1832,  much 
effort  was  expended  by  a  number  of  societies  on  the 

244 


LEVI  J.  COPPIN 

West  Coast,  during  which  more  or  less  progress  was 
made,  accompanied  with  no  little  sacrifice,  and  a  large 
death-roll  of  missionaries.  But,  at  this  time  the  mis 
sionary  field  is  no  longer  confined  to  any  particular 
section  of  Africa.  The  missionary  has  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  explorer  and  planted  his  stations.  In  South 
Africa  the  work  is  most  hopeful:  In  West  Africa,  the 
foothold  is  permanent;  in  Central  Africa  the  work  pro 
ceeds,  and  is  not  likely  to  stop  until  every  tribe  shall 
read  the  story  of  the  Cross  in  his  own  dialect. 

Those  missionaries  who  have  studied  the  native 
tongues — of  which  there  are  many — and  translated  the 
Bible  in  the  vernacular  of  various  tribes,  have  done  a 
work  that  is  of  inestimable  value.  The  difficulty  of 
language,  is,  after  all,  the  greatest  obstacle  in  evangelistic 
progress  in  Africa.  If  there  were  but  one  tongue  to 
contend  with,  the  work  of  the  Missionary  would  be 
comparatively  easy;  but  there  are  many  tongues.  In  my 
own  district  in  South  Africa,  we  have  the  Bible  in  three 
native  dialects,  namely:  the  Zulu,  Bechauna,  and  the  so- 
called  Kaffir.  Besides  these,  we^have  the  Dutch  as  well 
as  the  English  Bible. 

So  much  has  been  accomplished  by  missionaries,  and 
at  so  great  a  sacrifice,  that  it  seems  quite  out  of  place  to 
suggest  a  criticism  or  complaint,  and  yet  all  the  Christian 
workers  should  be  ready  to  receive  any  suggestion  that 
would  help  them  to  achieve  better  results. 

In  carrying  the  Gospel  to  an  unenlightened  people, 
there  is  a  strong  temptation  to  emphasize  unduly  the 
commercial  element  that  very  naturally  accompanies  it. 

245 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Civilization  and  evangelization  must  go  hand  in  hand, 
but  the  greater  importance  should  always  be  given  to  the 
work  of  evangelization.  In  our  highest  civilization  are 
to  be  found  objectionable  and  hurtful  elements,  and 
these  are  likely  to  be  the  first  to  intrude  themselves  upon 
an  unsuspecting  people. 

It  is  ever  to  be  regretted,  that  the  civilization  that 
opened  the  way  for  the  missionary,  also  gave  an  opportu 
nity  for  the  introduction  of  evils,  among  which  none 
have  wrought  greater  harm  than  the  introduction  of 
alcoholic  beverages. 

To  what  extent,  anyone  directly  connected  with 
Missionary  enterprise  has  ever  been  responsible  for  such 
a  sad  result,  we  do  not  know;  but  it  does  seem  evident 
that  the  idea  of  pecuniary  gain  has  not  always  been  kept 
away  from  the  Missionary  field.  The  acquisition  of 
lands  for  other  than  ecclesiastical  purposes,  and  traffic  in 
native  products,  offer  a  great  temptation  to  the  Mission 
ary,  some  of  whom  have  availed  themselves  of  these 
advantages,  to  the  detriment  of  their  legitimate  work. 
It  is  not  always  an  easy  thing  for  one  to  become  so  forget 
ful  of  himself  in  his  efforts  to  bless  others  as  to  be  in  his 
life,  and  work  a  perfect  exemplar  of  the  Divine  Master, 
whose  Kingdom  he  seeks  to  promote,  but  whose  Kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world. 

Professor  Drummond,  in  a  speech  in  1888,  among 
other  important  statements  upon  foreign  missionary 
works,  made  the  following:  "I  was  taught  to  believe 
that  the  essential  to  a  missionary  was  strong  faith.  I 
have  since  learned  that  it  is  more  essential  for  him  to 

246 


LEVI  J.  COPPIN 

have  strong  love.  I  was  taught,  out  there  in  the  mis 
sionary  field,  that  he  needed  to  have  great  knowledge. 
I  have  learned  that,  more  than  knowledge  even,  is 
required  personal  character.  I  have  met  men  in  mission 
fields  in  different  parts  of  the  world  who  could  make 
zealous  addresses,  at  evangelistic  meetings  at  home, 
who  left  for  their  fields  of  labor,  laden  with  testimonials 
from  churches  and  Sunday-schools,  but  who  became 
utterly  demoralized  within  a  year's  time,  because  they 
had  not  learned  that  love  is  a  greater  thing  than  faith. 
That  is  a  neglected  part  of  a  Missionary's  education,  it 
seems  to  me,  and  yet  it  is  a  most  essential  one.  I  would 
say  that  the  thing  to  be  certain  of  in  picking  out  a  man 
for  such  a  field  as  Africa,  where  the  strain  upon  a  man's 
character  is  tremendous,  and  the  strain  upon  his  spiritual 
life  owing  to  the  isolation,  is  more  tremendous,  that  we 
must  be  sure  that  we  are  sending  a  man  of  character  and 
heart;  morally  sound  to  the  core,  with  a  large  and  broth 
erly  sympathy  for  the  native. "  These  are  the  words  of 
Professor  Drummond,  and  in  my  opinion  he  spoke  the 
exact  truth;  and  in  making  this  quotation,  I  am  glad 
that  it  is  from  such  an  eminent  authority;  one  who  could 
have  no  sinister  motives  for  such  utterances.  He  does 
not  arraign  the  missionaries  as  a  whole  but  frankly  states 
some  thing  that  he  had  learned  from  observation. 

The  native  African,  as  a  rule,  is  virtuous  and  honest. 
The  uncivilized  tribes,  in  striving  for  the  mastery  among 
themselves,  commit  many  acts  that  would  not  be  ap 
proved  by  the  rules  governing  modern  warfare:  deeds  of 

247 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

cruelty,  that  made  the  need  of  the  Gospel  among  them 
imperative.  But,  in  their  individual  lives,  free  from  the 
exciting  influence  of  war  they  have  rules  and  customs 
governing  their  home  life  that  are  entirely  in  keeping 
with  the  highest  state  of  Christian  civilization.  To  them, 
polygamy  is  not  a  sinful  practise.  Without  light  beyond 
that  which  comes  from  their  own  fireside,  they  do  not  see 
the  necessity  of  breaking  away  from  a  practise  that  is 
peculiar  to  mankind  in  the  earliest  stages  of  social  life. 
But  they  hold  tenaciously  to  the  rule,  that  all  men  and  all 
women  among  them  must  respect  the  matrimonial 
customs  by  which  they  are  governed.  These  customs 
cannot  be  violated  with  impunity,  and  the  penalty  for 
such  violations  is  often  death.  They  are  disposed  to  be 
true  to  their  professions,  and  faithful  in  what  they  believe. 
When  they  are  persuaded  that  there  is  a  better  life,  and 
induced  to  embrace  it,  they  bring  with  them  their  char 
acteristic  sincerity.  How  great,  then,  is  the  need  of 
missionaries  who  will  not,  by  the  deplorable  example  set 
by  their  own  unfaithfulness  and  insincerity,  lower  the 
standard  of  the  native. 

The  spirit  which  impels  one  to  work  in  the  foreign 
field  generally  leaves  him  without  a  choice  as  to  post  of 
duty.  The  first  thought  to  him  is:  "Lord  what  wilt 
Thou  have  me  to  do?"  And  hence  the  missionary  goes 
forth  without  questioning  the  race  variety  among  which 
his  lot  should  be  cast.  But  in  this  day  of  systematic 
method  even  in  Christian  effort,  and  when  missionaries 
from  every  race  variety  are  being  prepared  for  the  work, 

248 


LEVI  J.  COPPIN 

I  think  it  would  not  be  out  of  place  to  maintain  a  closer 

respect  for  the  laws  of  adaptation  and  fitness. 
*    *    *    *    * 

The  religious  field,  and  especially  the  great  continent 
of  Africa,  seems  to  offer  the  greatest  opportunity  for  the 
man  of  color  to  do  his  best  work.  As  we  stand  in  the 
open  door  of  a  new  century,  God  is  calling  us  to  new  duties 
and  responsibilities.  The  preparation  for  this  work  was 
through  a  school  of  hard  experiences,  but  perhaps  the 
trials  were  no  harder  than  those  which  had  been  borne 
by  others.  We  waited  long  for  the  call  to  take  our  place 
among  other  agencies  for  the  redemption  of  the  world; 
and  now  that  it  has  come,  we  have  no  tune  nor  disposition 
to  brood  over  past  experiences.  Our  business  is  now 
with  the  exacting  present,  and  the  portentious  future, 
and  we  must  adjust  ourselves  to  the  new  situation. 

God  is  calling  men  of  every  race  and  clime  to  take  a 
part  in  the  world's  redemption  and  face  the  responsibil 
ities  that  come  with  the  unfolding  years.  If  we  are 
found  ready  and  welling  to  take  our  place,  then  may  we 
claim  the  promise  of  His  presence  and  help:  but,  if  we 
are  found  to  be  unwilling,  and  unworthy,  the  call  may 
not  come  to  us  again. 

" Stretch  forth  thy  hand;  Jehovah  bids  thee  come 
And  claim  the  promise;  thou  hast  had  thy  doom, 
If  forth  in  sorrow,  weeping,  thou  hast  gone, 
Rejoicing  to  thy  God  thou  shalt  return. 
249 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand,  no  longer  doubt,  arise; 
Look!  See  the  'signo'  in  the  vaulted  skies! 
Greet  the  new  century  with  faith  sublime, 
For  God  is  calling  now,  this  is  thy  time. 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand  to  God,  the  night  is  past; 
The  morning  cometh,  thou  art  free  at  last. 
No  brigands  draw  thee  from  thy  peaceful  home, 
But  messengers  of  love  to  greet  thee  come 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand  to  kindred  o'er  the  sea; 
Our  cause  is  one,  and  brothers  still  are  we. 
Bone  of  our  bone,  one  destiny  we  claim; 
Flesh  of  our  flesh,  thy  God  and  ours  the  same. 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand:  "What  tho'  the  heathen  rage" 
And  fiends  of  darkness  all  their  wrath  engage. 
The  hand  of  God  still  writes  upon  the  wall, 

"Thy  days  are  numbered;  all  the  proud  shall  fall. " 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand,  nor  yet  in  terror  flee; 
Thick  darkness  but  a  swaddling-band  shall  be 
The  waves  and  billows  which  thy  way  oppose 
Shall  in  their  bosom  bury  all  thy  foes. 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand  to  God,  'tis  not  for  thee 
To  question  aught,  nor  all  his  purpose  see. 
The  hand  that  led  thee  through  the  dreary  night 
Does  not  thy  counsel  need  when  comes  the  light. 

"Stretch  forth  thy  hand;  stretch  forth  thy  hand  to  God; 
Nor  falter  thou,  nor  stumble  at  His  word. 
And  if  in  service  thou  shalt  faithful  be, 
His  promise  of  salvation  thou  shalt  see. " 


210 


A  PLEA  FOR  INDUSTRIAL  OPPORTUNITY* 
BY  FANNY  JACKSON  COPPIN 

FANNY  MIRIAM  JACKSON  COPPIN,  the  first  Negro  woman  in  America  to 
graduate  from  college — Oberlin,  1865.  From  1837  to  igos,  teacher  and  principal 
of  the  Institute  for  Colored  Youth  in  Philadelphia. 

The  great  lesson  to  be  taught  by  this  Fair  is  the  value 
of  co-operative  effort  to  make  our  cents  dollars,  and  to 
show  us  what  help  there  is  for  ourselves  in  ourselves. 
That  the  colored  people  of  this  country  have  enough 
money  to  materially  alter  their  financial  condition,  was 
clearly  demonstrated  by  the  millions  of  dollars  deposited 
in  the  Freedmen's  Bank;  that  they  have  the  good  sense, 
and  the  unanimity  to  use  this  power,  are  now  proved  by 
this  industrial  exhibition  and  fair. 

It  strikes  me  that  much  of  the  recent  talk  about  the 
exodus  has  proceeded  upon  the  high-handed  assumption 
that,  owing  largely  to  the  credit  system  of  the  South, 
the  colored  people  there  are  forced  to  the  alternative,  to 
"curse  God,  and  die,"  or  else  "go  West."  Not  a  bit  of 
it.  The  people  of  the  South,  it  is  true,  cannot  at  this 
tune  produce  hundreds  of  dollars,  but  they  have  millions 
of  pennies;  and  millions  of  pennies  make  tens  of  thousands 
of  dollars.  By  clubbing  together  and  lumping  their 


*  Delivered  at  a  fair  in  Philadelphia,  held  in  the  interest  of  the  Christian 
Recorder. 

251 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

pennies,  a  fund  might  be  raised  in  the  cities  of  the  South 
that  the  poorer  classes  might  fall  back  upon  while  their 
crops  are  growing;  or  else,  by  the  opening  of  co-operative 
stores,  become  their  own  creditors  and  so  effectually  rid 
themselves  of  their  merciless  extortioners.  "Oh,  they 
won't  do  anything;  you  can't  get  them  united  on  any 
thing!"  is  frequently  expressed.  The  best  way  for  a  man 
to  prove  that  he  can  do  a  thing  is  to  do  it,  and  that  is 
what  we  have  shown  we  can  do.  This  fair,  participated 
in  by  twenty  four  States  in  the  Union,  and  gotten  up  for 
a  purpose  which  is  of  no  pecuniary  benefit  to  those  con 
cerned  in  it,  effectually  silences  all  slanders  about  "we 
won't  or  we  can't  do,"  and  teaches  its  own  instructive 
and  greatly  needed  lessons  of  self-help, — the  best  help 
that  any  man  can  have,  next  to  God's. 

Those  in  charge,  who  have  completed  the  arrangement 
the  Fair,  have  studiously  avoided  preceding  it  with  noisy 
and  demonstrative  babblings,  which  are  so  often  the 
vapid  precursors  of  promises  as  empty  as  those  who  make 
them;  therefore,  in  some  quarters,  our  Fair  has  been 
overlooked.  It  is  not,  we  think,  a  presumptuous  inter 
pretation  of  this  great  movement,  to  say,  that  the  voice 
of  God  now  seems  to  utter  "  Speak  to  the  people  that  they 
go  forward."  "Go  forward"  in  what  respect?  Teach 
the  millions  of  poor  colored  laborers  of  the  South  how 
much  power  they  have  in  themselves,  by  co-operation  of 
effort,  and  by  a  combination  of  their  small  means,  to 
change  the  despairing  poverty  which  now  drives  them 
from  their  homes,  and  makes  them  a  mill-stone  around 
the  neck  of  any  community,  South  or  West.  Secondly, 

252 


FANNY  JACKSON  COPPIN 

that  we  shall  go  forward  in  asking  to  enter  the  same 
employments  which  other  people  enter.  Within  the  past 
ten  years  we  have  made  almost  no  advance  in  getting 
our  youth  into  industrial  and  business  occupations.  It  is 
just  as  hard  for  instance,  to  get  a  boy  into  a  printing- 
office  now  as  it  was  ten  years  ago.  It  is  simply  astonish 
ing  when  we  consider  how  many  of  the  common  vocations 
of  life  colored  people  are  shut  out  of.  Colored  men  are 
not  admitted  to  the  printers'  trade-union,  nor,  with  very 
rare  exceptions  are  they  employed  in  any  city  of  the 
United  States  in  a  paid  capacity  as  printers  or  writers; 
one  of  the  rare  exceptions  being  the  employment  of 
H.  Price  Williams,  on  the  Sunday  Press  of  this  city.  We 
are  not  employed  as  salesmen  or  pharmacists,  or  sales 
women,  or  bank  clerks,  or  merchants'  clerks,  or  trades 
men,  or  mechanics,  or  telegraph  operators,  or  to  any 
degree  as  State  or  government  officials,  and  I  could 
keep  on  with  the  string  of  "ors"  until  to-morrow  morn 
ing,  but  the  patience  of  an  audience  has  its  limit. 

Slavery  made  us  poor,  and  its  gloomy,  malicious 
shadow  tends  to  keep  us  so.  I  beg  to  say,  kind  hearers, 
that  this  is  not  spoken  in  a  spirit  of  recrimination.  We 
have  no  quarrel  with  our  fate,  and  we  leave  your  Chris 
tianity  to  yourselves.  Our  faith  is  firmly  fixed  in  that 
"Eternal  Providence,"  that  in  its  own  good  time  will 
"justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man."  But,  believing  that 
to  get  the  right  men  into  the  right  places  is  a  "consum 
mation  most  devoutly  to  be  wished,"  it  is  a  matter  of 
serious  concern  to  us  to  see  our  youth  with  just  as  decided 

253 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOOUENCE 

diversity  of  talent  as  any  other  people,  herded  together 
into  but  three  or  four  occupations. 

It  is  cruel  to  make  a  teacher  or  a  preacher  of  a  man 
who  ought  to  be  a  printer  or  a  blacksmith,  and  that  is 
exactly  the  condition  we  are  now  obliged  to  submit  to. 
The  greatest  advance  that  has  been  made  since  the  War 
has  been  effected  by  political  parties,  and  it  is  precisely 
the  political  positions  that  we  think  it  least  desirable 
our  youth  should  fill.  We  have  our  choice  of  the  profes 
sions,  it  is  true,  but,  as  we  have  not  been  endowed  with 
an  overwhelming  abundance  of  brains,  it  is  not  probable 
that  we  can  contribute  to  the  bar  a  great  lawyer  except 
once  in  a  great  while.  The  same  may  be  said  of  medicine; 
nor  are  we  able  to  tide  over  the  "starving  time/'  between 
the  reception  of  a  diploma  and  the  time  that  a  man's 
profession  becomes  a  paying  one. 

Being  determined  to  know  whether  this  industrial 
and  business  ostracism  lay  in  ourselves  or  "in  our  stars," 
we  have  from  time  to  time,  knocked,  shaken,  and  kicked, 
at  these  closed  doors  of  employment.  A  cold,  metallic 
voice  from  within  replies,  "We  do  not  employ  colored 
people."  Ours  not  to  make  reply,  ours  not  to  question 
why.  Thank  heaven,  we  are  not  obliged  to  do  and  die; 
having  the  preference  to  do  or  die,  we  naturally  prefer 
to  do. 

But  we  cannot  help  wondering  if  some  ignorant  or 
faithless  steward  of  God's  work  and  God's  money  hasn't 
blundered.  It  seems  necessary  that  we  should  make 
known  to  the  good  men  and  women  who  are  so  solicitous 

254 


FANNY  JACKSON  COPPIN 

about  our  souls,  and  our  minds,  that  we  haven't  quite 
got  rid  of  our  bodies  yet,  and  until  we  do,  we  must  feed 
and  clothe  them;  and  this  attitude  of  keeping  us  out  of 
work  forces  us  back  upon  charity. 

That  distinguished  thinker,  Mr.  Henry  C.  Carey,  in 
his  valuable  works  on  political  economy,  has  shown  by 
the  truthful  and  forceful  logic  of  history,  that  the  eleva 
tion  of  all  peoples  to  a  higher  moral  and  intellectual 
plane,  and  to  a  fuller  investiture  of  their  civil  rights,  has 
always  steadily  kept  pace  with  the  improvement  in  their 
physical  condition.  Therefore  we  feel  that  resolutely 
and  in  unmistakable  language,  yet  in  the  dignity  of 
moderation,  we  should  strive  to  make  known  to  all  men 
the  justice  of  our  claims  to  the  same  employments  as 
other's  under  the  same  conditions.  We  do  not  ask  that 
anyone  of  our  people  shall  be  put  into  a  position  because 
he  is  a  colored  person,  but  we  do  most  emphatically  ask 
that  he  shall  not  be  kept  out  of  a  position  because  he  is  a 
colored  person.  "An  open  field  and  no  favors"  is  all 
that  is  requested.  The  tune  was  when  to  put  a  colored 
girl  or  boy  behind  a  counter  would  have  been  to  decrease 
custom;  it  would  have  been  a  tax  upon  the  employer,  and 
a  charity  that  we  were  too  proud  to  accept;  but  public 
sentiment  has  changed.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  employ 
ment  of  a  colored  clerk  or  a  colored  saleswoman  wouldn't 
even  be  a  "nine  days'  wonder. "  It  is  easy  of  accomplish 
ment,  and  yet  it  is  not.  To  thoughtless  and  headstrong 
people  who  meet  duty  with  impertinent  dictation  I  do 
not  now  address  myself;  but  to  those  who  wish  the  most 

255 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

gracious  of  all  blessings,  a  fuller  enlightment  as  to  their 
duty, — to  those  I  beg  to  say,  think  of  what  is  suggested 
in  this  appeal. 


266 


AN  APPEAL  TO  OUR  BROTHER  IN  WHITE* 

BY  W.  J.  GAINES,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  the  A.M.  E.  Church  In  Georgia 

Providence,  in  wisdom,  has  decreed  that  the  lot  of  the 
Negro  should  be  cast  with  the  white  people  of  America. 
Condemn  as  we  may  the  means  through  which  we  were 
brought  here,  recount  as  we  may  the  suffering  through 
which,  as  a  race,  we  passed  in  the  years  of  slavery, 
yet  the  fact  remains  that  today  our  condition  is  far  in 
advance  of  that  of  the  Negroes  who  have  never  left 
their  native  Africa.  We  are  planted  in  the  midst  of  the 
highest  civilization  mankind  has  ever  known,  and  are  rap 
idly  advancing  in  knowledge,  property,  and  moral  en 
lightenment.  We  might,  with  all  reason,  thank  God 
even  for  slavery,  if  this  were  the  only  means  through 
which  we  could  arrive  at  our  present  progress  and 
development. 

We  should  indeed  count  ourselves  blest  if  our  white 
brethren  would  always  extend  to  us  that  kindness,  justice, 
and  sympathy  which  our  services  to  them  in  the  past 
should  inspire,  and  our  dependence  upon  them  as  the 
more  enlightened  and  wealthy  race  should  prompt  them 
to  bestow. 


*From  "The  Negro  and  the  White  Man,"  1897. 

257 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Why  should  there  be  prejudice  and  dislike  on  the 
part  of  the  white  man  to  his  colored  brother?  Is  it  be 
cause  he  was  once  a  slave,  and  a  slave  must  forever 
wear  the  marks  of  degradation?  Is  there  no  effacement 
for  the  stigma  of  slavery — no  erasement  for  this  blot  of 
shame?  Will  our  white  brother  not  remember  that  it 
was  his  hand  that  forged  the  links  of  that  chain  and  that 
riveted  them  around  the  necks  of  the  people  who  had 
roved  for  thousands  of  years  in  the  unrestrained  liberty 
of  the  boundless  forests  in  far-away  Africa?  As  well 
might  the  seducer  blacken  the  name  and  reputation  of 
the  fair  and  spotless  maiden  he  has  cruelly  and  wantonly 
seduced.  Go  far  enough  back  and  it  is  more  than  prob 
able  that  you  will  find  the  taint  of  slavery  in  your  line 
and  its  blot  upon  your  escutcheon.  The  proud  Saxon 
became  the  slave  to  the  Norman,  and  yet  to-day  millions 
are  proud  to  be  called  Anglo-Saxons. 

Will  our  white  brother  refuse  us  his  cordial  fellowship 
because  of  our  ignorance?  Ignorance  is  indeed  a  great 
evil  and  hindrance.  The  enlightened  and  refined  cannot 
find  fellowship  with  the  ignorant,  the  benighted,  the  un 
tutored.  If  this  be  the  line  of  demarkation,  we  can  and 
will  remove  it.  No  people  ever  made  more  heroic  efforts 
to  rise  from  ignorance  to  enlightenment.  Forty-three  per 
cent,  of  the  Negro  race  can  read  and  write,  and  with  tune 
we  can  bring  our  race  up  to  a  high  degree  of  civilization. 
We  are  determined,  by  the  help  of  Providence,  and  the 
strength  of  our  own  right  arms,  to  educate  our  people  un 
til  the  reproach  of  ignorance  can  no  longer  be  brought 

258 


GEORGE  W.  GAINES 

against  us.  When  we  do,  will  our  white  brothers  accord 
that  respect  which  is  the  due  of  intelligence  and  culture? 

Does  our  white  brother  look  with  disdain  upon  us 
because  we  are  not  cleanly  and  neat?  It  is  true  that  the 
masses  of  our  race  have  not  shown  that  regard  for  personal 
cleanliness  and  nicety  of  dress,  which  a  wealthy  and  edu 
cated  people  have  the  means  and  the  time  for.  Our 
people  by  the  exegencies  of  their  lot,  have  had  to  toil 
and  toil  in  menial  places,  the  places  where  drudgery 
was  demanded  and  where  contact  with  dust  and  filth 
was  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  work.  But 
even  this  can  be  remedied,  and  cleanliness  and  neatness 
can  be  made  a  part  of  the  Negro's  education  until  he 
can  present,  as  thousands  of  his  race  are  now  doing, 
a  creditable  appearance.  Will  improvement  along  these 
lines  help  us  to  gain  the  esteem  and  respectful  consider 
ation  of  our  white  brothers?  If  so,  the  time  is  not  far  dis 
tant  when  this  barrier  will  be  removed.  Education  will 
help  solve  this  difficulty  as  it  does  all  others,  and  give  to 
our  race  that  touch  of  refinement  which  insures  physical 
as  well  as  mental  soundness. — mens  sana  in  corpore  sano. 

But  is  our  moral  condition  the  true  reason  of  our 
ostracism?  Are  we  remanded  to  the  back  seats  and  ever 
held  in  social  dishonor  because  we  are  morally  unclean? 
Would  that  we  could  reply  by  a  denial  of  the  allegation 
and  rightly  claim  that  purity  which  would  be  at  the 
foundation  of  all  respectable  social  life.  But  here  we 
ask  the  charitable  judgment  of  our  white  brethren,  and 
point  them  to  the  heroic  efforts  we  have  made  and  are 
making  for  the  moral  elevation  of  our  race.  Even  a 

259 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

superficial  glance  at  the  social  side  of  the  Negro's  life 
will  convince  the  unprejudiced  that  progress  is  being 
made  among  the  better  classes  of  our  people  toward  vir 
tuous  living.  Chastity  is  being  urged  everywhere  in 
the  school  house,  and  the  church,  and  the  home,  for  our 
women, '  and  honesty  and  integrity  for  our  men.  We 
can  and  will  lift  the  shadow  of  immorality  from  the 
great  masses  of  our  race,  and  demonstrate  to  the  whole 
world  what  religion  and  education  can  do  for  a  people. 
We  are  doing  it.  Among  the  thoroughly  cultured  and 
rightly  trained  of  our  women,  virtue  is  as  sacred  as  life, 
and  among  our  men  of  similar  advantages,  honor  and 
integrity  are  prized  as  highly  as  among  any  people  on  the 
globe. 

Is  our  poverty  the  barrier  that  divides  us  from  a 
closer  fellowship  with  our  white  brethren?  Would  wealth 
cure  all  the  evils  of  our  condition,  and  give  us  the  cordial 
recognition  we  ask  from  them?  If  so,  we  can  remove  even 
this  barrier.  Our  labor  has  already  created  much  of  the 
wealth  of  the  South,  and  it  only  needs  intelligence  to 
turn  it  into  our  own  coffers  and  make  it  the  possession 
of  our  own  people.  Among  the  whites  money  seems  to 
be  the  sesame  that  opens  the  doors  to  social  recognition, 
and  converts  the  shoddy  into  a  man  of  influence  and  rank. 
Barney  Barnato,  a  London  Jew,  who  began  life  with  a 
trained  donkey,  became  at  length  the  "South  African 
diamond  king,"  and  then  all  London  paid  homage  to 
this  despised  son  of  a  hated  race.  Would  money  thus 
convert  our  despised  people  into  honorable  citizens,  give 
them  kindly  recognition  at  the  hands  of  our  white  neigh- 

260 


GEORGE  W.  GAINES 

bors,  and  take  from  them  the  stigma  which  has  so  long 
marked  them  with  dishonor  and  shame?  If  so,  we  can 
hope  to  secure  even  this  coveted  prize,  and  claim  like  Bar 
ney  Barnato  the  respect  of  mankind. 

But  if  it  is  none  of  these  things  that  doom  us  to 
ostracism  and  degradation,  as  a  people,  I  ask  finally  is  it 
our  color?  Alas,  if  it  be  this,  we  can  do  nothing  to  re 
move  the  line  of  separation,  unless  it  be  to  wait  the  slow 
process  of  amalgamation  which  despite  our  efforts,  the 
white  people  of  this  country  seem  bound  to  consummate. 
If  we  knew  of  any  chemical  preparation  by  which  we 
could  change  the  color  of  our  skins  and  straighten  our 
hair  we  might  hope  to  bring  about  the  desired  consumma 
tion  at  once,  but  alas,  there  is  no  catholicon  for  this  ill, 
no  mystic  concoction  in  all  the  pharmacies  of  earth  to 
work  this  miracle  of  color.  We  must  fold  our  hands  in 
despair  and  submit  to  our  fate  with  heavy  hearts. 

To  be  serious,  however,  I  would  plead  with  our  white 
brothers  not  to  despise  us  on  account  of  our  color.  It 
is  the  inheritance  we  received  from  God,  and  it  could 
be  no  mark  of  shame  or  dishonor.  "Can  the  leopard 
change  his  spots  or  the  Ethiopian  his  skin?"  No  dis 
grace  can  be  attached  to  physical  characteristics  which 
are  the  result  of  heredity,  and  cannot  be  removed  by  any 
volition  or  effort.  How  cruel  it  is  to  visit  upon  the 
colored  man  contempt  and  dishonor  because  of  the  hue 
of  his  skin,  or  the  curling  peculiarity  of  his  hair.  Let 
him  stand  or  fall  upon  his  merit.  Let  him  be  respected 
if  he  is  worthy.  Let  him  be  despised  if  he  is  unworthy. 

2&l 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

We  appeal  to  our  white  brothers  to  accord  us  simple 
justice.  If  we  deserve  good  treatment  give  it  to  us,  and 
do  not  consider  the  question  of  color  any  more  than  you 
would  refuse  kindness  to  a  man  because  he  is  blind. 

All  we  ask  is  a  fair  show  in  the  struggle  of  life.  We 
have  nothing  but  the  sentiment  of  kindness  for  our  white 
brethren.  Take  us  into  your  confidence,  trust  us  with 
responsibility,  and  above  all,  show  us  cordial  kindness. 
Thus  will  you  link  our  people  to  you  by  the  chains  of 
love  which  nothing  can  break,  and  we  will  march  hand  in 
hand  up  the  steep  pathway  of  progress. 


362 


THE  POLITICAL  OUTLOOK  FOR  AFRICA* 
BY  EDWARD  WILMOT  BLYDEN 

EDWARD  WILMOT  BLYDEN,  one  of  the  greatest  scholars  of  the  race;  native 
of  St.  Thomas,  West  Indies.  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Republic  of  Liberia;  sent 
on  diplomatic  missions  to  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  reported  proceedings  before 
Royal  Geographical  Society;  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Republic  of  Liberia 
at  the  Court  of  St.  James;  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  A  fairs;  Ambassador 
to  France  from  Liberia;  Fellow  of  the  American  Philological  Association;  Honor 
ary  Member  Athaneurn  Club.  Presented  with  medal  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey 
in  recognition  of  his  services  as  Mohammedan  Commissioner  of  Education. 

.  .  .  Now  as  to  our  political  relations,  the  gift  of  the 
African  does  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  political  aggran 
dizement.  His  sphere  is  the  church,  the  school,  the  farm, 
the  workshop.  With  us,  the  tools  are  the  proper  instru 
ments  of  the  man.  This  is  why  our  country  has  been 
partitioned  among  the  political  agencies  of  the  world — 
the  Japhetic  powers,  for  they  can  best  do  the  work  to  be 
done  in  the  interest  of  the  temporal  as  a  basis  for  the 
spiritual  advancement  of  humanity.  The  African  and 
the  Jew  are  the  spiritual  races,  and  to  them  political 
ascendence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  is  not  prom 
ised.  It  was  M.  Renan,  the  great  French  agnostic,  who 
said:  "The  fate  of  the  Jewish  people  was  not  to  form  a 
separate  nationality;  it  is  a  race  which  always  cherishes  a 
dream  of  something  that  transcends  nations. " 

*  Extracts  from  a  speech  made  at  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor  by  native 
Africans  at  Holborn,  England,  August  15,  1903. 

263 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

This  truth  will  stand,  though  we  cannot  help  sym 
pathizing  with  the  intense  and  glowing  patriotism  of  Mr. 
Zangwill  as  described  in  the  Daily  News  the  other  day. 
Then  as  Africans  we  must  sympathize  with  and  assist 
the  powers  that  be,  as  ordained  by  God,  whom  He  will 
hold  to  a  strict  account  for  their  proceedings.  We  cannot 
alter  this  arrangement,  whatever  our  opinion  as  to  the 
rudeness  and  ruggedness  of  the  methods  by  which  the 
human  instruments  have  arrived  at  it. 

It  is  a  fact.  Let  us  then,  to  the  best  of  our  ability, 
assist  those  to  whom  has  been  committed  rule  over  our 
country.  Their  task  is  not  an  easy  one.  They  are  giving 
direction  to  a  state  of  things  that  must  largely  influence 
the  future.  As  conscientious  men,  they  are  often  in 
perplexity.  The  actual  rulers  of  British  West  African 
Colonies  are  to-day  an  exceptional  class  of  men.  And  in 
keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  in  the  critical 
circumstances  in  which  they  labor,  they  are  doing  their 
best  under  the  guidance  of  a  chief  in  this  country  of 
large  sympathies  and  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  situa 
tions. 


264 


THE  DUTY  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE 
ANGLO-SAXON  IDEA  OF  CITIZENSHIP* 

BY  W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 
of  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  to-night  of  what  your  race 
has  contributed  and  is  contributing  to  this  great  stream 
on  whose  bosom  is  borne  the  freighted  destiny  of  the 
human  race,  and  whose  currents  wash  every  shore. 

More  than  two  and  one  half  centuries  of  progress  and 
achievement,  on  this  continent  alone,  may  well  vaunt 
your  pride  and  give  you  the  resolution  which  belongs  to 
the  children  themselves  of  destiny. 

Exult  copiously,  if  you  will,  over  the  triumphal  march 
of  a  great  material  civilization,  the  marvelous  expansion 
of  your  territory,  your  wonderful  development  of  hidden 
resources,  your  power  and  dignity  at  home  or  abroad, 
but  invite  not,  nor  condone  that  spirit  of  listless  satiety, 
nor  sink  into  that  national  egotism  which  lets  the  dagger 
steal  to  the  heart  of  the  nation  while  your  reveling  con 
ceals  the  presence  of  the  foe.  For,  remember,  pomp  and 
splendor,  wealth,  ease,  and  power's  pride  and  heraldry v 
boast  once  echoed 

"Through  haughty  Rome's  imperial  street." 

*  Extract  from  an  Address  delivered  before  the  Eureka  Literary  Society  at 
Penbrooke,  Pa.,  December  16,  1904. 

265 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

If  American  citizenship  contains  a  hope  and  promise, 
a  wealth,  a  blessing,  and  a  content,  aye!  and  immortality 
and  just  renown,  it  lives  to-day  in  hearts,  and  not  in 
stones;  it  lives  in  feelings  and  not  in  lands;  it  resides  in 
aspirations  and  not  in  coffers,  it  lives  in  ideals  and  not  in 
vaunt  and  splendor. 

It  is  yours  to  fulfil  its  duties;  to  meet  well  its  respon 
sibilities;  it  is  what  your  fathers  builded  out  of  heart  and 
soul,  out  of  love,  compassion,  and  generous  fellowship, 
and  not  out  of  blood  and  brawn;  it  is  humanity's  own; 
yours  be  it  to  study  and  repeat,  if  need  be,  the  sacrifices 
of  those  who  planted  its  first  seeds  with  the  sword, 
nourished  them  with  their  blood  and  suffering,  and  with 
wisdom,  blessed  by  Heaven,  consecrated  by  heroic 
sacrifices  and  sanctified  by  prayer,  left  it  to  you  and  to 
all  of  us,  more  wisely  fashioned,  more  glittering  in  its 
prospect  and  more  alluring  to  our  fancy  than  anything 
political  wisdom  ever  offered  to  human  hope. 

But  in  order  to  know  and  feel  what  there  is  of  universal 
interest  which  we  have  to  do,  what  there  is  for  humanity's 
glory  and  weal  we  have  to  preserve;  what  is  the  task  set 
to  us,  as  our  work  in  forwarding  the  current  of  human 
life  and  liberty,  we  must  look  to  the  past,  and  learn  what 
fundamental,  essential  truths  have  grown  from  its  toil 
and  achievement.  Many  such  the  American  idea  of 
citizenship  contains;  but  of  one  let  us  speak. 

The  American  idea  of  citizenship  and  its  ideal,  its  aims, 
possibilities,  and  destiny,  had  its  origin  and  enshrinement 
in  that  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  of  freedom  which  has  been  the 

266 


W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 

peculiar  characteristic  of  a  race  whose  civil  and  judicial 
development  in  the  remotest  and  darkest  days  of  its 
history  distanced  all  rival  clans  and,  from  Alfred  to 
William  III,  from  tribe  to  Empire,  has  cherished  and 
sustained  a  system  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which, 
intolerant  of  every  form  of  oppression,  has  made  the 
English  language  the  vernacular  of  liberty. 

In  the  earliest  periods  of  these  peoples'  history  we 
find  the  germal  elements  of  those  great  charters  of  liberty 
which  are  to  become  the  chief  corner-stone  of  free  govern 
ment  and  mighty  guarantees  of  personal  liberty. 

A  philosophical  review  of  the  evolution  of  these  early 
ideas  of  personal  liberty  to  their  full  growth  into  a  free 
constitutional  government  would  make  an  instructive 
and  interesting  study;  but  I  lack  the  learning  and  the 
ability  for  such  disquisitions.  I  must  therefore  content 
myself  for  the  purpose  of  unfolding  the  duties  and  des 
tinies  of  American  citizenship,  to  review  but  historically, 
how  from  simple  communities  seeking  to  free  themselves 
from  the  rule  of  individuals  or  classes,  to  govern  them 
selves  by  law,  and  make  that  law  supreme  in  every 
exigency,  great  charters  were  established  and  the  reign 
of  law  instead  of  the  rule  of  princes  permanently  estab 
lished. 

Even  in  the  establishing  of  their  free  system  of  public 
administration,  the  Anglo-Saxon  aim  and  purpose  was  to 
secure  the  most  absolute  guarantees  of  personal  security. 
The  liberty  of  the  individual  unit  of  society  secured  in 
the  exercise  of  the  largest  liberty  consistent  with  the 
public  welfare,  and  that  liberty  protected  by  the  just  and 

267 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

righteous  administration  of  public  laws,  was  the  ideal  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  state. 

In  their  religion,  philosophy,  poetry,  oratory,  and 
literature  they  have  always  confessed  that  oppression 
was  venal  and  wrong.  If  selfishness,  greed,  or  pride  have 
allured  them  for  a  while  from  that  royal  path  of  national 
rectitude  and  honor,  they  have  in  the  final  test  returned 
conquering  to  their  true  and  higher  selves.  Their  inborn 
hate  of  oppression,  their  magnanimous  and  tolerant 
spirit  of  freedom  gloriously  in  the  ascendant. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  free  institutions  of  Great  Britain 
and  America  have  grown  and  towered  in  strength,  and  in 
their  onward  march  startled  the  world  by  their  progress, 
and  appalled  the  very  lips  of  prophecy  by  their  bold  and 
daring  sweep.  They  will  not  stop,  for  liberty  is  fearless 
and  the  current  of  freedom  is  irresistible. 

But  in  the  early  Anglo-Saxon  Commonwealth,  the 
rights,  liberties,  and  privileges  of  the  citizen  were  not  as 
broad  and  full  as  we  find  them  to-day.  The  spirit  of 
liberty  was  weak  at  first,  but  her  demands  grew  apace 
with  her  strength.  Neither  by  the  generosity  of  princes, 
nor  by  the  wisdom  of  legislation,  were  the  ordinary 
English  rights  of  free  citizenship  enlarged  and  established. 
Nor  are  the  first  and  elemental  principles  of  free  govern 
ment  which  we  find  springing  up  on  English  soil  after  the 
conquests,  and  whose  history  in  the  re-establishment  of 
political  liberty  we  shall  trace  through  countless  struggles 
and  repressions,  the  original  of  that  divine  idea  of  freedom 
which  it  has  been  the  mission  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to 
give  to  the  world. 

268 


W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 

It  is  but  a  part  of  that  great  race  spirit  which  the 
Conqueror  could  not  conquer;  the  lingering  spirit  of 
freedom  which  the  iron  heel  of  despotic  usurpation  could 
not  stamp  out,  the  memory  of  a  lost  freedom  ranking  in 
the  hearts  of  men  determined  to  restore  in  their  island 
home  those  ancient  rights  which  no  man  dared  to  question 
in  the  days  of  the  Saxon,  Edward  the  Confessor. 

The  condition  of  the  early  Saxon  as  it  was  raised  by 
the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  good  King  Alfred,  and  as 
it  remained  until  the  end  of  the  reign  of  the  unfortunate 
Harold,  was  that  of  a  freeman,  a  freeman  not  merely  in 
the  sense  of  being  his  own  master,  but  "he  was  a  living 
unit  in  the  State. "  He  held  his  lands  in  his  own  right. 
He  attended  the  courts,  and  entered  in  their  deliberations. 
He  bore  arms  and,  by  authority  of  law,  could  use  them 
in  his  own  defense.  The  animating  principle  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  government  was  local  sovereignty.  Matters  from 
the  smallest  to  the  greatest  were  vested  in  the  local  power. 
***** 

The  establishment,  after  the  granting  of  the  Magna 
Charta,  thus  firmly  of  the  liberties  of  England  has  been 
accomplished  by  bitter  and  fierce  struggles;  the  obstruc 
tive  forces  were  strong,  but  yielded  in  the  end  to  the 
onward  sweep  of  liberty  directed  by  the  aggressive  spirit 
of  intelligence,  manhood,  and  humanity.  At  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century  this  much  had  been  gained  for 
freedom.  The  principles  of  liberty,  which  had  been 
constantly  acknowledged  in  written  documents  or  had 
been  established  by  precedents  and  examples  (some  of 
which  were  the  remains  of  their  ancient  liberties)  had 

269 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

been  embodied  as  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
land;  those  local  institutions,  which  a  while  ago  we  found 
among  the  free  Saxons,  and  even  now  pregnant  with  the 
seeds  of  liberty, — the  jury,  the  right  of  holding  public 
meetings,  of  bearing  arms,  and  finally  the  Parliament 
itself  had  become  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  England. 
Then  came  the  Reformation  and  its  demand  for 
religious  freedom.  Against  the  claim  of  a  divinely 
ordained  kingly  power,  the  Cavalier  was  found  ready  to 
revolt.  The  Puritans  writhed  under  their  religious 
restraint.  The  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier  joined  their 
cause;  political  liberty  invoked  the  aid  of  Faith,  and 
Faith  hallowed  and  strengthened  the  crusade  of  human 
liberty.  The  struggle  increased  against  absolute  power, 
spiritual  and  political,  now  concentrated  in  kingly  hands. 
Giants  they  were  who  took  up  the  quarrel  of  liberty  in 
those  dark  days  of  civil  strife.  Men  they  were  who 
inherited  the  blood  of  the  saintly  Langton  and  of  his 
lordly  Barons.  Five  centuries  of  heroic  strife  against 
oppression  had  sanctified  the  name  of  Liberty.  They 
were  mad  with  the  hatred  of  tyranny,  and  centuries  of 
bitter,  heart-rending  experience  had  made  them  wise  and 
valorous  for  the  fray.  Liberty  is  now  about  to  win  on 
Saxon  soil,  but  not  there  alone,  for  those  of  her  yeo 
manry,  who  were  hardiest  for  the  fight  and  cherished  the 
broadest  liberty,  transplanted  themselves  now  upon  this 
new  soil  of  America  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  new 
Empire,  which  then  and  forever  should  be  untrammeled 
by  the  conservation  of  princes  and  unabashed  by  the 
sneers  of  monarchs.  They  rejected  primogeniture  and 

270 


W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 

the  other  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  adopted 
the  anti-feudal  custom  of  equal  inheritance.  They 
brought  with  them  the  Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of 
Rights;  they  threw  around  themselves  the  safeguard  of 
Anglo-Saxon  liberty  purified  and  burned  by  those  years 
of  oppression.  They  transplanted  Saxon  England  freed 
from  the  dross  of  Norman  rule  and  feudal  aristocracy. 
Liberty  and  law  are  henceforth  to  work  out  the  destinies 
of  men.  And  who  contemplating  the  manner  of  men  and 
whence  they  derived  their  faith,  their  hopes  and  fears, 
can  quibble  about  the  aims  and  purposes  of  the  founders 
of  this  Republic?  The  fathers  did  not  borrow  their 
political  ideals  from  the  juriscounsuls  of  Rome;  not  from 
the  free  democracy  of  Greece;  nor  did  they  fuse  into  their 
system  the  feudal  aristocratic  imperialism  of  Europe. 

To  govern  themselves  by  law,  and  secure  therewith 
the  largest  liberty  with  the  greatest  security  of  individual 
rights  and  property,  was  their  ideal  of  statecraft,  and 
this  idea,  inseparable  from  the  principles  they  laid  down, 
must  endure  while  the  fabric  lasts. 

I  have  told  you  that  the  government  the  fathers 
planted  was  Anglo-Saxon  in  law;  but  it  was  Anglo-Saxon 
too  in  religion  and  spirit.  Nothing  has  been  so  conquering 
in  its  influence  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  spirit;  it  has  assim 
ilated  wherever  it  has  gone,  and  like  the  leaven  that 
leaveneth  the  whole,  homogeneity  has  followed  in  its 
fierce  wake  of  progress  with  not  a  whit  lost  of  its  great 
and  fearless  impulse  of  law  and  freedom. 

No  race  has  been  so  domineering,  none  stronger  and 
with  a  more  exclusive  spirit  of  caste,  none  with  a  more 

271 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

contemptuous  dislike  of  inferiority,  none  more  violent  in 
prejudice  once  formed,  or  dislikes  once  engendered;  yet 
doth  the  spirit  and  impulse  of  freedom  move  majestic  "in 
the  chambers  of  their  soul, "  raising  them  finally  above 
those  hated  obliquities,  conquering  their  repugnance, 
enfeebling  and  vanishing  their  hates.  Thus  one  by  one 
grave  wrongs  inflicted  upon  weaker  races  by  the  cold, 
calculating  hand  of  greed  have  been  arrested  and  blotted 
out  in  the  holy  names  of  right.  Thus  it  is,  and  has  been, 
that  nations,  sects,  and  creeds  coming  to  these  shores 
lose,  in  the  fascination  of  free  institutions  and  the  august 
majesty  of  liberty,  the  distinctive  qualities  of  their  old 
allegiance,  and  thus  it  is  that  over  a  broad  land  composed 
of  all  nations,  sects,  and  creeds  there  reigns  one  grand 
homogeneity  and  a  single  patriotic  impulse  of  faith  and 
destiny.  Few  there  are  of  Americans  who  can  to-day 
trace  even  the  faintest  spark  of  their  lineage  to  an  English 
or  even  a  Norman  source.  Yet  the  spirit  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  is  the  presiding  genius  of  our  destiny.  Its  spirit 
is  the  spirit  of  our  law,  and  its  religion  is  the  evangel 
of  our  political  faith. 

Inheritors  of  this  great  circumstance  of  power  and 
rule,  need  I  remind  you  that,  though  you  sacrifice  your 
labor  and  toil,  though  you  may  have  brought  forth  this 
jewel  of  liberty  regulated  by  law,  you  cannot  keep  it 
unless  you  share  it  with  the  world.  The  evils  which  in 
days  past  men  had  to  wipe  out  in  tears  and  blood  will 
arise  again  and  precipitate  convulsions  in  which  liberty 
may  expire. 

272 


W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 

The  very  spectacle  of  seeming  grandeur  and  the  out 
ward  cast  of  luxury  and  splendor  invite  the  enemies* 
quest  and  fans  into  blood-red  heat  his  latent  ire,  while 
pride,  vanity,  and  hate  surround  the  heart  with  the  humor 
of  death-breeding  slime  into  which  the  corroding  worm  is 
spawned. 

I  care  nothing  for  the  shell;  the  fleshy  parts  are  no 
longer  food  for  the  living,  but  the  pearl  contained  in  this 
Anglo-Saxon  mollusk  has  for  me  an  irresistible  charm. 
The  pure  spirit  of  its  lofty  ideals,  distilled  from  his  life 
and  struggles,  and  living  in  quickening  touch  with  human 
thought  and  aspiration,  like  the  exaltation  which  lingers 
after  some  Hosanna  chorus;  his  sublimated  actions  and 
deeds,  whose  swelling  flood  of  cadence  throb  with  the 
heart-beat  of  universal  man, — these  I  love  with  inexpres 
sible  devotion;  these  are  worth  preserving.  All  else, 
cast  in  the  rubbish  heap  with  past  delusions. 

Mr.  Chairman,  men  are  great  and  small,  they  roam 
the  vast  wilderness  of  the  stars,  and  soar  the  very  empy 
rean  of  thought  and  action,  and  they  fear  and  crouch  and 
kneel;  and  in  their  quaking  fears  and  driveling  doubts 
seem  like  puny  things  crawling  on  the  ground;  they  are 
saints  and  sinners;  sometimes  emissaries  of  light  and  love, 
and  yet  again  harbingers  of  ill,  and  sometimes  the  very 
Nemesis  of  hate;  but  in  the  composite  elements  of  their 
human  thinking,  throbbing  energies  of  heart  and  mind, 
they  are  as  but  a  single  soul,  governed  by  one  law,  imbued 
with  one  spirit,  hearkening  to  one  voice,  touched  by  the 
one  sympathy,  inspired  by  one  hope,  and  in  trend  of 

273 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

aspiration,  love  and  ideal,  impelled  by  the  onward  flux 
of  one  great  life-struggle  and  purpose. 

What,  then,  are  you  and  I  but  sentient  units  in  one 
great  evolving  process  of  life-activity  and  thought;  and 
yet  so  circumvolved  in  that  process  that  the  impulse, 
which  we  irradiate  from  the  point  of  our  single  particular 
seat  of  energy  and  feeling,  thrills  through  the  vast  spheres 
of  human  purpose  and  endeavor,  and  raises  the  standard 
of  truth  or  forwards  the  advance  of  enlightened  order 
like  each  rhythmic  melody  is  gathered  in  the  mightier 
confluence  of  chime  and  strain  to  swell  the  torrent  of  a 
mighty  symphony. 

The  work  we  have  to  do  is  not  outside,  but  deep  down 
in  the  teeming  flow  of  struggling  human  souls.  Think  of 
them  as  your  other  self,  and  your  own  souls  will  interpret 
the  meaning  of  their  complaints,  the  quality  of  their 
striving,  and  the  measure  of  their  justice. 

You  will  then  behold  the  race  of  men  as  I  have  beheld 
them  once  when  my  single  soul  seemed  with  sympathy 
winged  and  I  sat  with  the  lowly  outcast  and  felt  his 
outrage  and  his  shame;  I  brooded  with  him  over  all  his 
wrongs;  I  felt  within  my  breast  the  poison  shaft  of  hate, 
and  clinched  like  him  my  fist,  scowled,  and  vengeance 
swore  on  them  who  drove  my  despair  and  misery  to  crime 
by  scoff  and  rancor  and  unforgiving  hate. 

I  stood  amidst  a  motley  throng  and  felt  my  brain 
bereft  of  noble  thought;  I  lived  in  a  squalid  home  and 
despised  the  pity  which  the  disdainful  cast  upon  my  lot; 
laughed  at  ribald  jests  and  quaffed  the  liquid  flame,  and 
the  dark-hued  nectar  which  concealed  the  serpent  beneath 

274 


W.  JUSTIN  CARTER 

its  foam;  I  held  my  head  aloft  to  seem  with  pride  imbued; 
I  gibed  at  fortune's  whim  and  grinned  a  soulless  sneer  at 
my  fate  to  conceal  a  deep  despair. 

I  roamed  with  the  savage  Indians  across  the  arid 
plains,  stood  with  them  in  lonely  worship  of  the  great 
Unknown,  and  dropped  like  him  a  silent  tear  for  the 
woodlands  gone;  the  fleet-footed  game  no  longer  at  his 
door;  his  father's  dust,  scattered  by  winds  over  con 
secrated  and  hallowed  battle-plains. 

I  stood  beside  the  enchanted  Nile  and  wondered  at 
the  mystery  of  the  Sphinx;  I  felt  the  lure,  the  wanderlust 
of  the  mysterious  arid  plains  and  laid  my  body  down  on 
the  desert  sand  to  sleep,  a  weapon  by  my  side;  I  arose 
to  greet  the  rising  sun  and,  with  "Allah"  on  my  tongue, 
bowed  my  head  in  solemn  worship  towards  Mecca's 
distant  domes. 

I  wandered  through  Africa's  torrid  forest  and  scorch 
ing  plains  and  sat  naked  before  a  bamboo  hut;  I  felt  the 
savage's  freedom  and  his  ease;  I  learned  the  songs  of 
birds,  the  shriek  of  beasts,  the  omens  of  the  moons,  and 
kenned  the  dread  and  sacred  lore  which  tradition  single 
tongue  had  brought  from  the  ages  past  and  gone. 

I  walked  beside  the  Ganges'  sacred  shores,  worshiped 
at  the  shrine  of  mighty  gods  and  felt  the  spirit  of  the 
mighty  All  vibrate  through  my  being.  I  chanted  the 
songs  whose  authors  are  forgot,  and  studied  strange 
philosophies  of  sages  passed;  I  starved  and  hungered  on 
his  arid  plains;  I  felt  the  whips  and  scorn  of  cast;  the 
curse  of  fated  birth  and  the  iron  rule  of  oppression's 
heartless  greed. 

275 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

I  was  slave,  and  by  fortune  scorned;  I  felt  the  whip 
cut  into  my  quivering  flesh  and  my  blood  rush  hot  to  the 
gaping  wound;  I  knew  the  agony  of  unrequited  toil,  and 
with  aching  limbs  dragged  my  hopeless  body  to  my  hut, 
to  think,  but  not  to  sleep. 

I  learned  to  dream  and  hate,  and  at  Nemesis'  bloody 
altar  immolated  in  thought  and  hope  the  whole  detested 
tribe  of  human  oppressors  and  cried  Content. 

And  thus  I  know  the  bondage  which  men  endure,  the 
realty  and  the  delusion  in  what  they  think  and  feel;  and 
the  subtlety  and  strength  of  those  evil  forces  which  color 
his  disposition  and  becloud  his  prospect. 

And  I  stand  amidst  his  turbulent  fortunes  and  above 
the  storm  and  rage  of  his  contentions  and  despairs  to 
proclaim  the  divinity  of  his  soul,  and  to  herald  a  new 
awakening  under  which  his  quickened  energies  will  yet 
surge  forward  in  mighty  waves  of  better  things. 

If  the  Republic  is  true  to  the  great  principles  of 
liberty  and  justice  which  it  proclaims;  if  you  have  learned 
the  lesson  of  your  own  history,  and  appropriated  the 
experience  coined  out  of  your  own  struggles,  then  will 
Anglo-Saxon  genius  and  achievement  glow  like  a  mighty 
flame  to  light  the  path  of  struggling  men,  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  glory  light  angels  to  restore  the  rights  of  man. 


27ft 


THE  ARMY  AS  A  TRAINED  FORCE* 

BY  THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD,  D.  D. 

Chaplain  2$th  United  States  Infantry 

Reverend  Bishops,  and  Brethren  of  the  Ministry,  and  my 

Brethren  of  the  Laity: 

I  thank  the  honorable  Commission  from  my  heart  for 
the  distinguished  favor  they  have  conferred  upon  me  in 
inviting  me  to  address  this  august  assembly.  Never  be 
fore,  during  all  my  forty  years  of  public  life,  have  I  been 
granted  so  majestic  a  privilege;  never  before  have  I  ven 
tured  to  assume  so  grave  a  responsibility;  and,  I  may  add, 
never  before  have  I  felt  so  keenly  my  inability  to  do  justice 
to  the  occasion. 

I  am  encouraged,  however,  by  the  reflection  that  I  am 
in  the  house  of  my  friends,  where  I  may  hope  for  an  indul 
gent  hearing,  and  especially  upon  the  subject  which  I 
have  the  high  honor  to  bring  before  you. 

The  purport  of  my  address  is  the  conservation  of  life; 
the  development  of  physical  and  moral  power  as  well  as 
of  mental  alertness;  the  creation  of  bravery  and  the  evolu 
tion  of  that  higher  and  broader  element — courage;  the 
formation  of  character  sturdy  enough  to  upbear  a  State, 
and  intelligent  enough  to  direct  its  government.  What  I 

*  Delivered  before  General  Conference,  Chicago,  111.,  1904. 

277 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

have  to  say  will  be  toward  the  production  of  a  robust  and 
chivalric  manhood,  the  only  proper  shelter  for  a  pure  and 
glorious  womanhood.  Noble  women  are  the  crown  of 
heroic  men.  None  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair,  and 
none  but  the  brave  can  have  them. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustrating  and  enforcing  these 
great  social,  physical,  and  moral  truths,  I  have  chosen  the 
Army  of  our  country,  or  the  character  and  training  of  the 
American  soldier.  In  this  I  do  not  depart  from  Biblical 
practise.  How  many  hearts  have  been  cheered  and 
strengthened  by  the  thrilling  pictures  painted  by  St.  Paul 
of  the  soldiers  of  his  times!  How  many  have  in  thought 
beheld  his  armed  hosts  and  heard  his  stirring  exhortation: 
"Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith!" 

We  owe  our  existence  as  a  nation  to  the  men  in  arms 
who  for  eight  years  met  the  force  of  Great  Britain  with 
counter  force,  and  thus  cleared  the  field  for  the  statesman 
ship  that  can  make  the  proverbial  two  blades  of  grass 
grow.  The  man  with  the  gun  opened  the  way  for  the  man 
with  the  hoe.  We  who  are  here,  and  the  race  we  represent, 
owe  our  deliverance  from  chattel  slavery  to  the  men  in 
arms  who  conquered  the  slaveholders'  Rebellion.  It  is  a 
sad  thought,  but  nevertheless  one  too  true  thus  far  in 
human  history,  that  liberty,  man's  greatest  earthly  boon, 
can  be  reached  only  through  a  pathway  of  blood.  The 
Army  made  good  our  declaration  of  independence;  and 
upon  the  Army  and  Navy  Lincoln  relied  for  the  efficacy 
of  his  plan  of  emancipation.  Abstract  right  is  fair  to  look 
upon,  and  has  furnished  the  theme  for  charming  essays 
by  such  beautiful  writers  as  Ruskin  and  Emerson;  but 

278 


THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

right,  backed  up  by  battalions,  is  the  right  that  prevails. 
When  the  men  of  blood  and  iron  come,  there  is  no  longer 
time  for  the  song  or  the  essay.  It  is,  "Get  in  line  or  be 
shot. "  The  days  of  rhetoricals  are  over.  The  eloquence 
of  the  soldier  silences  all.  Even  the  laws  are  dumb  when 
the  sword  is  unsheathed. 

Is  this  horrible  doctrine?  It  is  only  God  overthrowing 
Pharaoh  by  means  more  humane  than  His  fearful  plagues, 
and  less  destructive  than  the  billows  of  that  relentless  sea 
over  which  redeemed  Israel  so  exultingly  sang.  No, 
brethren;  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  has  not 
ceased  to  be  a  useful  instrument.  It  is  the  proper  thing 
for  evil  doers. 

The  army  is  the  national  sword,  and  the  "powers  that 
be"  bear  it  "not  in  vain."  It  is  a  fearful  engine  of 
destruction,  pure  and  simple.  Von  Moltke  says:  "The 
immediate  aim  of  the  soldier's  life  is  destruction,  and 
nothing  but  destruction;  and  whatever  constructions 
wars  result  in  are  remote  and  non-military. " 

An  Austrian  officer  says:  "Live  and  let  live  is  no 
device  for  an  army.  Contempt  for  one's  own  comrades, 
for  the  troops  of  the  enemy,  and,  above  all,  fierce  con 
tempt  for  one's  own  person,  are  what  war  demands  of 
every  one.  Far  better  is  it  for  an  army  to  be  too  savage, 
too  cruel,  too  barbarous,  than  to  possess  too  much  sen 
timentality  and  human  reasonableness.  If  the  soldier  is 
to  be  good  for  anything  as  a  soldier,  he  must  be  exactly  the 
opposite  of  a  reasoning  and  thinking  man.  The  measure 
of  goodness  in  him  is  his  possible  use  in  war.  War,  and 
even  peace,  require  of  the  soldier  absolutely  peculiar 

279 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

standards  of  morality.  The  recruit  brings  with  him  com 
mon  moral  notions  of  which  he  must  seek  immediately 
to  get  rid.  For  him,  victory — success — must  be  every 
thing.  The  most  barbaric  tendencies  in  man  come  to  life 
again  in  war,  and  for  war's  uses  they  are  incommensurably 
good." 

Perhaps  the  greatest  of  American  psychologists, 
Professor  William  James,  adds  to  these  remarks:  "Con 
sequently  the  soldier  can  not  train  himself  to  be  too 
feelingless  to  all  those  usual  sympathies  and  respects, 
whether  for  persons  or  for  things  that  make  for  conserva 
tion.  Yet,"  he  says,  "the  fact  remains  that  war  is  a 
school  of  strenuous  life  and  heroism  and,  being  in  the  line 
of  aboriginal  instinct,  is  the  only  school  that  as  yet  is 
universally  available. " 

Emerson  says:  "War  educates  the  senses,  calls  into 
action  the  will,  perfects  the  physical  constitution,  brings 
men  into  such  swift  and  close  collision  in  critical  moments 
that  man  measures  man. " 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  however,  to  glorify  war.  War 
to  me  is  horrible  beyond  description  or  conception,  and  it 
is  for  war  that  armies  are  trained;  yet  the  training  of  an 
army,  like  the  training  of  even  a  pugilist,  is  a  work  of  great 
moral  value. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Army  gave  us  our 
independence,  when  the  Revolution  had  succeeded,  and 
the  Constitution  had  been  framed,  and  the  country 
launched  on  her  career,  there  was  a  tendency  to  forget 
Joseph.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  against  a  standing  army 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  even  a  nucleus  was  main- 

280 


THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

tained.  The  first  legislation  on  this  subject  gave  us  but 
one  battalion  of  artillery  and  one  regiment  of  infantry, 
the  whole  consisting  of  46  officers  and  840  men.  In  1814, 
because  of  the  war  with  England,  the  army  ran  up  to 
60,000;  but  the  next  year  fell  to  12,000,  and  continued 
even  below  that  number  up  to  1838,  when  it  again  went 
up  to  about  12,000.  In  1846,  during  the  Mexican  War,  it 
reached  about  18,000.  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  it 
was  about  12,000.  There  were  in  the  Army,  at  the  time 
of  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  over  1,000  officers. 
Two  hundred  and  eighty-six  of  these  left  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  and  subsequently  served  in  the  Con 
federate  Army.  Of  these  286,  187  had  been  educated  at 
West  Point.  But  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  say  now,  not  a 
single  enlisted  man  followed  the  example  of  these  officers. 
Beside  the  staff  departments,  the  Army  now  consists 
of  15  regiments  of  cavalry,  30  batteries  of  field  artillery, 
126  companies  of  coast  artillery,  and  30  regiments  of 
infantry.  These  different  classes  are  known  as  the  three 
arms  of  the  service:  Cavalry,  artillery,  and  infantry. 
Our  whole  Army  to-day  numbers  67,259  men.  We  are 
the  greatest  nation,  with  the  smallest  army.  Our  Army, 
however,  is  capable  of  rapid  expansion;  and,  with  our 
National  Guard,  we  need  not  fear  any  emergency.  This 
Army,  though  so  small,  is  in  one  sense  a  trained  athlete, 
ready  to  defend  the  nation's  honor  and  flag.  In  another 
sense,  it  is  a  vast  practical  school,  in  which  the  military 
profession  is  taught.  The  students  are  not  only  the  60, 
ooo  who  are  now  serving,  but  the  many  thousands  also, 
who  come  and  go.  Men  enlist  for  three  years,  and  al- 

281 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

though  many  re-enlist,  the  Army  is  constantly  receiving 
recruits,  and  constantly  discharging  trained  soldiers. 
These  discharged  soldiers  are  often  found  among  our  best 
citizens. 

The  entire  corps  of  over  3,800  officers  may  be  regarded 
as  professors  or  instructors,  whose  duty  it  is  to  bring  the 
Army  up  to  a  state  of  perfection.  To  this  corps  of  3,800 
commissioned  officers  must  be  added,  also,  the  large 
number  of  intelligent  non-commissioned  officers,  who  are 
assistant  instructors  of  the  very  highest  utility.  The 
work  of  the  Army  consists  of  study  and  practice,  instruc 
tion  and  drill.  It  is  an  incessant  school.  There  are 
officers'  school,  non-commissioned  officers'  school,  school 
of  the  soldier,  school  of  the  company,  school  of  the  bat 
talion,  post  school, — besides  drills  and  lectures  without 
number.  The  actual  scientific  information  imparted  to 
the  enlisted  men  is  considerable.  To  specify  only  in  small 
part:  It  includes  all  methods  of  signaling,  up  to  teleg 
raphy;  all  methods  of  preserving  and  preparing  food;  all 
methods  of  first  treatment  of  wounds;  how  to  estimate 
distance,  to  map  a  country,  to  care  for  property  and  stock, 
and  the  most  thorough  knowledge  of  weapons  and  war 
fare.  To  become  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  Army,  a  man 
must  either  go  through  West  Point,  or  have  the  equivalent 
of  a  college  education,  especially  in  mathematics,  history, 
and  law;  and  have,  besides,  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
what  is  purely  military.  And  when  he  is  made  a  second 
lieutenant  and  enters  upon  his  career  as  an  officer,  his 
studies  begin  afresh.  He  must  study  to  prepare  himself 
for  subsequent  promotions.  Failure  in  this  means  dismis- 

282 


THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

sion.    The  army  officer  to-day  must  be  exceedingly  thor 
ough  and  accurate  in  his  knowledge. 

General  Corbin  says :  "  Never  before  in  the  history  of 
the  Army  have  there  been  so  many  acceptable  candidates 
for  promotion  as  there  are  at  this  time.  Never  before  has 
the  Army  been  in  a  higher  state  of  efficiency  and  in  more 
perfect  accord  than  it  is  to-day.  Until  within  a  short 
time,  an  officer  graduated  at  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point  was  looked  upon  as  a  man  with  'a  finished 
education';  but  to-day,  and  for  the  last  four  years,  we 
accept  that  education  merely  as  the  foundation  upon 
which  a  more  advanced  education  is  to  be  built.  This 
theory  is  in  general  practice,  and  has  been  so  accepted. 
The  service  schools  at  Fort  Monroe,  Fort  Totten,  Fort 
Riley,  Fort  Leavenworth,  and  the  War  College  at  Wash 
ington  are,  in  most  respects,  high-class  post-graduate 
schools.  In  addition  of  this,  every  post  is  a  school  of 
application,  educating  officers  and  men  for  the  duties  now 
required  of  them. " 

What,  then,  is  this  training  of  the  army  for  which  the 
officer  must  possess  this  most  accurate,  thorough,  and 
scientific  education?  He  is  required  to  have  this  educa 
tion  that  he  may  train  the  soldier  up  to  the  highest  point 
of  efficiency.  The  officer  must  know,  and  must  be  able  to 
impress  the  soldier  with  the  fact  that  he  does  know.  The 
officer  must  have  the  full  science  of  everything  pertaining 
to  the  soldier's  work,  in  order  that  he  may  teach  the 
soldier  the  art  of  it.  The  nature  of  the  training  to  which 
the  soldier  is  subjected  may  be  best  understood  by  con 
sidering  its  end.  This,  as  in  all  training,  is  more  important 

283 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

than  the  method.  The  primary  object  of  the  training  is  to 
unify  the  army  and  make  it  the  efficient  instrument  for 
executing  the  nation's  will.  By  discipline,  individual 
efforts  are  brought  under  control  of  the  chief.  A  company 
is  well  disciplined  when,  in  its  movement,  its  collective 
soul,  so  to  speak,  is  identified  with  that  of  its  commander. 
The  officer  must  have  possession  of  his  men,  so  that  when 
the  command  is  given,  an  electric  current  will  seem  to  pass 
through  the  company,  and  the  movement  will,  as  it  were, 
execute  itself.  In  a  well-drilled  and  well-disciplined  com 
pany,  the  orders  do  not  seem  to  pass  through  the  intellects 
of  the  men.  Without  reflection,  but  simply  by  concen 
trated  attention,  the  work  is  done.  The  wills  of  the  men 
are  not  only  temporarily  dislodged,  but  in  their  place  is 
substituted  the  dominant  will  of  the  commander.  This 
is  the  psychological  end  sought;  and  this  condition  secures 
instantaneous  obedience  to  orders.  It  is  this  which  brings 
about  those  marvels  of  execution  which  occur  among 
disciplined  men.  Men  perform  acts  in  which  neither 
their  personal  reason  nor  even  their  personal  will  has  any 
part. 

A  second  end  of  the  training  is  to  habituate  the  men 
so  firmly  in  the  performance  of  certain  movements  that 
no  emotion  can  interfere  with  their  action.  Upon  the 
battle-field  there  is  nothing  left  of  the  exercises  of  the 
times  of  peace,  but  that  which  has  become  a  habit,  or  in  a 
word,  an  instinct.  The  soldier  must  be  so  trained  that  he 
will  go  on  with  his  work  as  long  as  he  has  the  ability  to  do 
so.  One  has  said:  "It  must  be  the  aim  of  the  new  dis 
cipline  to  make  the  private  soldier  capable  of  keeping 

284 


TEEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

steadfastly  in  mind  for  the  whole  of  the  day,  or  even  for 
several  days,  and  striving  with  all  his  might  to  carry  out, 
what  he  has  been  told  by  a  superior  who  is  no  longer 
present,  and  who,  for  all  he  may  know,  is  dead. " 

A  third  end  sought  in  military  training  is  to  render  the 
soldier  strong  and  agile,  so  that  he  can  move  with  rapidity, 
sustain  long  marches,  and  handle  his  weapon  with  dexter 
ity. 

*    *    *    *    * 

Every  consideration  in  feeding,  clothing,  sheltering, 
both  men  and  animals,  has  but  one  object, — efficiency. 
All  questions  of  moral  duty,  all  ideas  of  the  spiritual  or 
immortal  interests,  are  completely  submerged  beneath 
the  ever-present  thought  of  material  force.  Power  must 
be  had  by  men,  horses,  machinery;  power,  aggressive 
power,  is  the  all-pervading  and  all-controlling  thought  of 

the  army. 

***** 

An  army  is  properly  an  incarnation  of  the  fiend  of 
destruction.  Every  part  of  its  legitimate  work  is  to 
destroy.  If  it  constructs  bridges  and  builds  roads,  erects 
forts  and  digs  trenches,  these  are  all  that  it  may  destroy, 
or  prevent  some  other  incarnation  from  destroying  it. 
Annies  lay  waste  and  destroy.  Cornfields,  orchards, 
lawns,  life,  and  treasure  are  all  prey  for  the  voracious 
destroyer. 

The  motive  employed  in  bringing  the  soldier  to  the 
high  state  of  excellence  here  described  is  always  that  of 
duty.  The  word  "duty"  is  very  prominent  and  very  full 
of  meaning  in  the  army.  Military  duty  is  made  a  moral 

285 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

obligation  founded  upon  patriotism.  This  sentiment  of 
duty  is  the  moral  force  in  the  army  that  gives  dignity  to 
its  obedience.  The  army  develops,  strengthens,  and 
educates  this  sense  oj  duty,  until  it  becomes  supreme.  It 
is  this  sense  of  duty  which  produces  endurance  to  undergo 
privations,  and  leads  men  to  be  patient  under  the  greatest 
sacrifices.  The  physical  force  which  we  see  in  the  army 
depends  upon  the  moral  or  spiritual  which  we  do  not  see. 
The  whole  life  of  the  army,  its  very  soul,  the  breath 
which  animates  its  every  part,  is  preparation  for  war. 
To  be  ready  for  war  is  the  supreme  end  toward  which  all 
its  efforts  tend.  The  mechanical  parts  of  the  work  are  so 
numerous  and  various  that  I  can  barely  outline  them  here. 
There  are  those  exercises  which  conduce  to  health  and 
vigor,  known  as  the  setting-up  drill.  These  exercises 
correct  the  form  of  the  body  and  transform  the  recruit 
into  a  soldier.  The  constant  drills  all  have  their  effect 
upon  the  bearing  and  gait  of  the  men.  The  extensive 
system  of  calisthenics  gives  to  the  body  suppleness.  All 
this  work  is  done  under  direction,  so  that  obedience  and 
discipline  are  taught  at  the  same  time  with  physical 
culture.  Apart  from  these  exercises  are  voluntary  ath 
letics,  which  are  greatly  encouraged.  It  is  believed  that 
athletic  exercises,  by  bettering  the  bodies  of  the  men, 
better  also  their  minds;  that,  for  the  welfare  of  the  army, 
these  exercises  rank  next  to  training  in  shooting.  I  know 
you  will  take  pride  in  the  fact  that  the  black  soldiers, 
both  of  infantry  and  cavalry,  occupy  a  place  in  the  very 
front  rank  in  all  these  manly  exercises.  They  are  equal 

286 


THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

to  America's  best  on  the  drillground,  on  the  athletic 
grounds,  and  on  the  field  of  bloody  strife. 

The  practise  of  cleanliness  is  enjoined  all  the  time, 
along  with  these  exercises.  The  soldier  is  taught  how  to 
make  his  bed  and  to  put  all  his  effects  in  order,  and  is 
then  compelled  to  do  it;  and  thus  there  is  established 
within  him  a  love  of  order.  Punctuality,  cleanliness,  and 
order  are  the  soldier's  three  graces.  The  hygiene  of  his 
body,  care  of  his  arms  and  equipments,  respect  for  his 
uniform,  are  driven  into  his  inmost  soul.  Our  regiment 
lived  in  the  midst  of  cholera,  without  suffering  from  the 
disease.  Hence  the  army  is  a  great  object-lesson  of  what 
care  and  training  can  make  of  men. 

But  the  army  in  our  Republic  is  of  far  greater  value 
in  a  moral  sense  than  in  a  physical  sense.  In  these  days 
when  authority  is  departing  from  the  home,  the  church, 
and  the  school,  it  is  well  that  it  can  find  refuge  somewhere 
in  the  country  The  working  of  the  army  rests  entirely 
upon  authority.  One  single  will  pervades  every  part  of 
it,  although  this  will  is  participated  in  by  thousands. 
Every  subordinate  is  independent  within  limits;  but  one 
general  will  controls  all.  Respect  for  authority  is  en 
forced,  and  thus  taught,  not  in  theory  alone,  but  by 
practice.  The  corporal  is  not  the  same  as  a  private.  The 
man  who  holds  a  commission  from  the  President  repre 
sents  the  high  authority  of  the  Republic;  and  the  true 
soldier  yields  him  both  obedience  and  respect.  Every 
where  the  soldier  is  taught  obedience  to  law.  After  all 
that  I  have  said,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  emphasize  the 
fact  that  the  soldier's  obedience  becomes  voluntary,  and 

287 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

that  he  takes  pride  in  his  profession.  Hence  the  army  is  a 
body  of  men,  not  moving  according  to  their  own  wills,  not 
a  deliberative  assembly,  but  a  purely  executive  body,  the 
incarnation  of  law  and  of  force.  It  is  silent,  but  powerful. 
It  does  not  talk,  but  acts;  army  spells  action. 

The  men  who  are  trained  in  our  Army  are  not  likely 
to  become  members  of  the  lawless  element.  They  have 
learned  too  well  the  lessons  of  order  and  the  necessity  of 
subordination.  The  attitude  of  the  Army  upon  the  vexed 
race  question  is  better  than  that  of  any  other  secular 
institution  of  our  country.  When  the  Fifth  Army  Corps 
returned  from  Cuba  and  went  into  camp  at  Montauk 
Point,  broken  down  as  it  was  by  a  short  but  severe  cam 
paign,  it  gave  to  the  country  a  fine  exhibition  of  the  moral 
effects  of  military  training.  There  was  seen  the  broadest 
comradeship.  The  four  black  regiments  were  there,  and 
cordially  welcomed  by  their  companions  in  arms.  In  the 
maneuvers  at  Fort  Riley,  no  infantry  regiment  on  the 
ground  was  more  popular  than  the  25th;  and  in  contests 
the  men  of  the  25th  proved  their  mettle  by  carrying  off 
nearly  every  medal  and  trophy  in  sight. 

"Perhaps  the  most  notable  series  of  events,  in  the 
light  of  the  popular  notion  of  Negro  inferiority,  were  the 
athletic  sports.  The  first  of  these  was  the  baseball  game 
for  the  championship  of  the  Department  of  the  Missouri 
and  a  silk  banner.  This  contest  had  gone  through  the 
several  organizations,  and  was  finally  narrowed  down  to 
the  loth  Cavalry  and  the  25th  Infantry.  On  October 
27th,  which  was  set  apart  as  a  field  day  for  athletic  sports, 
the  officers  of  the  encampment,  many  women  and  civ- 

288 


THEOPHILUS  G.  STEWARD 

ilians,  as  well  as  the  soldiers  of  the  regular  Army  present, 
assembled  on  the  athletic  grounds  at  10.30  A.  M.  to  witness 
the  game.  A  most  interesting  and  thoroughly  scientific 
game  was  played,  the  25th  winning  in  the  eleventh  inning 
by  a  score  of  4  to  3.  The  banner  would  have  gone  to 
colored  soldiers  in  either  case. " 

We  must  not  expect  too  much  of  the  army.  It  is  not  a 
church,  not  a  Sunday-school,  not  a  missionary  society. 
Its  code  of  morals  is  very  short,  very  narrow,  but  it 
enforces  what  it  has.  Its  commandments  are : 

1.  Thou  shalt  not  fail  to  obey  thy  superior  officer. 

2.  Thou  shalt  not  miss  any  calls  sounded  out  by  the 
trumpeter. 

3.  Thou  shalt  not  appear  at  inspection  with  anything 
out  of  order  in  thy  person,  clothing,  or  equipment. 

4.  Thou  shalt  not  lie. 

5.  Thou  shalt  not  steal. 

6.  Thou  shalt  not  leave  the  post  or  garrison  without 
permission. 

I  would  say,  further,  that  warfare  now  requires  so 
much  from  the  man  who  carries  it  on,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  unite  the  general  and  the  statesman  in  one  person. 
The  army  must  be  purely  executive,  carrying  out  the 
mandates  of  the  State.  The  moral  and  political  questions 
must  be  resolved  by  men  of  other  professions.  The  sol 
dier  has  all  that  he  can  do  to  attend  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  battle. 

The  Army  of  our  Republic  has  a  great  moral  mission 
which  it  is  performing  almost  unconsciously.  It  is  a  most 
influential  witness  against  lawlessness.  By  its  own  per- 

289 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

feet  order  and  obedience  to  discipline  it  gives  the  force  of 
a  powerful  example  in  favor  of  loyalty  to  the  Republic 
and  respect  for  the  laws.  The  best  school  of  loyalty  in 
the  land  is  the  army.  Every  evening  in  the  camp,  to  see 
ten  thousand  men  stand  in  respectful  attention  to  our 
song  to  the  national  banner  is  a  lesson  of  great  moral 
force.  In  still  another  sense  our  Army  is  also  a  great 
moral  force.  When  men  see  what  a  terrific  engine  of 
destruction  it  is,  the  good  people  rejoice  because  they 
know  this  engine  is  in  safe  hands;  and  the  evil-disposed 
look  on  and  are  enlightened.  Fierce  anarchists  will 
stop  to  count  ten,  at  least,  before  they  begin  their  attack 
upon  the  government. 

Lastly,  the  Army,  by  the  very  aristocracy  of  its  con 
stitution,  contributes  much  to  make  effective  the  doc 
trines  of  equality.  The  black  soldier  and  the  white  soldier 
cairy  the  same  arms,  eat  the  same  rations,  serve  under 
the  same  laws,  participate  in  the  same  experience,  wear 
the  same  uniforms,  are  nursed  in  the  same  hospitals,  and 
buried  in  the  same  cemeteries.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  by  its  priestly  aristocracy,  has  always  been  a 
bulwark  against  caste.  So,  in  the  same  manner,  the 
Army  of  our  Republic,  by  its  aristocracy  of  commission, 
has  proven  itself  the  most  effectual  barrier  against  the 
inundating  waves  of  race  discrimination  that  the  country 
has  as  yet  produced. 


290 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  CHURCH  AS  A 
SOLUTION  OF  THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM* 

BY  D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS,  D.  D. 

of  Richmond,  Virginia 

If  I  were  asked  to  name  the  most  wonderful  and  far- 
reaching  achievement  of  the  splendid,  all-conquering 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  I  would  ignore  the  Pass  of  Ther- 
mopolae,  the  immortal  six  hundred  at  Balaklava,  Tra 
falgar,  Waterloo,  Quebec,  Bunker  Hill,  Yorktown,  and 
Appomattox;  I  would  forget  its  marvelous  accumulations 
of  wealth;  its  additions  to  the  literature  of  the  world,  and 
point  to  the  single  fact  that  it  has  done  the  most  to  spread 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  greatest  thing  it  has 
accomplished  for  the  betterment  of  the  human  family. 

The  Jews  preserved  the  idea  of  a  one  God,  and  gave 
the  ethics  to  religion — the  ten  commandements,  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount;  the  Greeks 
contributed  philosophy;  the  Romans,  polity;  the  Teutons, 
liberty  and  breadth  of  thought;  but  it  remained  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  implicitly  to  obey  the  divine  command: 
"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature. " 


*Delivered   at    the   International,    Interdenominational    Sunday-school 
Convention,  Massey  Hall,  Toronto,  Canada,  June  27,  1905. 

291 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

If  some  man  would  ask  me  the  one  act  on  the  part  of 
my  own  race  that  gives  to  me  the  greatest  hope  for  the 
Negro's  ultimate  elevation  to  the  heights  of  civilization 
and  culture,  I  would  not  revel  in  ancient  lore  to  prove 
them  the  pioneers  in  civilization,  npr  would  I  point  to 
their  marvelous  progress  since  Emancipation  that  has 
surprised  then*  most  sanguine  friends,  but  I  would  take 
the  single  idea  of  their  unquestioned  acceptance  of  the 
dogmas  and  tenets  of  the  Christian  religion  as  promul 
gated  by  the  Anglo-Saxon,  as  the  highest  evidence  of  the 
future  possibilities  of  the  race. 

Ours  was  indeed  a  wonderful  faith  that  overleaped  the 
barriers  of  ecclesiastical  juggling  to  justify  from  Holy 
Writ  the  iniquitous  traffic  in  human  flesh  and  blood; 
forgot  the  glaring  inconsistencies  of  a  religion  that 
prayed,  on  Sunday,  "Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven," 
and  on  Monday  sold  a  brother,  who,  though  cut  in  ebony, 
was  yet  the  image  of  the  Divine.  The  Negro  had  in  very 
truth, 

"That  faith  that  would  not  shrink, 

Tho'  pressed  by  every  foe; 
That  would  not  tremble  on  the  brink 

Of  any  earthly  woe. 
That  faith  that  shone  mbre  bright  and  clear 

When  trials  reigned  without; 
That,  when  in  danger,  knew  no  fear, 

In  darkness  felt  no  doubt. " 

If  it  is  indeed  true  that  "by  faith  are  ye  saved,"  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  in  the  world  to  come,  then  God  will 
vouchsafe  to  us  a  most  abundant  salvation. 

292 


D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

It  is  my  blessed  privilege  to-night,  while  you  are 
pleading  for  the  " Winning  of  a  generation,"  and  at  this 
special  session  for  "the  relation  of  the  Sunday-school  to 
missions,  both  home  and  foreign, "  to  plead  for  my  people, 
and  my  prayer  is  that  God  may  help  me  to  make  my  plea 
effective.  For  the  people  for  whom  I  plead  are  bone  of 
my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh.  I  plead  for  help  for  my 
own  bright-eyed  boy  and  girl,  and  for  all  the  little  black 
boys  and  girls  in  my  far-off  Southern  home. 

If  the  great  race  problem  is  to  be  settled  (and  it  is  a 
problem,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said  to  the 
contrary),  it  is  to  be  settled,  not  in  blood  and  carnage, 
not  by  material  wealth  and  accumulation  of  lands  and 
houses,  not  in  literary  culture  nor  on  the  college  campus, 
not  in  industrial  education,  or  in  the  marts  of  trade,  but 
by  the  religion  of  Him  who  said,  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me."  These  things  are 
resultant  factors  in  the  problem,  but  the  problem  itself 
lies  far  deeper  than  these. 

Calhoun  is  reported  to  have  said,  "If  I  could  find  a 
Negro  who  could  master  the  Greek  syntax,  I  would 
believe  in  his  possibilities  of  development."  A  com 
paratively  few  years  have  passed  away,  and  a  Negro  not 
only  masters  the  Greek  syntax,  but  writes  a  Greek  gram 
mar  accepted  as  authority  by  some  of  the  ablest  scholars 
of  the  States.  But  Abb6  Gregori  of  France  published,  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  "Literature  of  the  Negro,"  telling 
of  the  achievements  of  Negro  writers,  scholars,  priests, 
philosophers,  painters,  and  Roman  prelates  in  Spain, 
Portugal,  France,  Italy,  Holland,  and  Turkey,  which 

203 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

prompted  Blumenbach  to  declare  it  would  be  difficult  to 
meet  with  such  in  the  French  Academy;  and  yet,  lit 
erature  and  learning  have  not  settled  the  problem.  No, 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  touchstone  to  settle  all 
the  problems  of  human  life.  More  than  nineteen  hundred 
years  ago,  Christ  gave  solution  when  he  said,  "Ye  are 
brethern, "  "Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law, "  and  "What 
soever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so 
to  them." 

Is  the  Negro  in  any  measure  deserving  of  the  help  for 
which  I  plead?  The  universal  brotherhood,  and  common 
instincts  of  humanity  should  be  enough.  I  bring  more. 
Othello,  in  speaking  of  Desdemona,  says,  "She  loved  me 
for  the  dangers  I  had  passed,  I  loved  her  that  she  did 
pity  me. "  If  pity  and  suffering  can  awaken  sympathy, 
then  we  boldly  claim  our  right  to  the  fullest  measure  of 
consideration.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  slavery, 
with  all  its  attendant  evils,  is  one  of  our  most  potent 
weapons  to  enlist  sympathy  and  aid. 

I  come  with  no  bitterness  to  North  or  South.  For 
slavery  I  acknowledge  all  the  possible  good  that  came  to 
us  from  it;  the  contact  with  superior  civilization,  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God,  the  crude  preparation  for 
citizenship,  the  mastery  of  some  handicraft;  yet,  slavery 
had  its  side  of  suffering  and  degradation.  North  and 
South  rejoice  that  it  is  gone  forever,  and  yet,  many  of  its 
evils  cling  to  us,  like  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea  to  Sinbad 
the  sailor,  and,  like  Banquo's  ghost,  they  haunt  us  still. 

As  I  stand  here  to-night,  my  mind  is  carried  back  to  a 
plantation  down  in  "Old  Virginia. "  It  is  the  first  day  of 

294 


D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

January,  1864,  Lincoln's  immortal  proclamation  is  a 
year  old,  and  yet  I  see  an  aunt  of  mine,  the  unacknowl 
edged  offspring  of  her  white  master,  being  sent  away 
from  the  old  homestead  to  be  sold.  The  proud  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood  in  her  veins  will  assert  itself  as  she  resists 
with  all  the  power  of  her  being  the  attempts  of  the  over 
seer  to  ply  lash  to  her  fair  skin,  and  for  this  she  must  be 
sold  "Way  down  Souf."  I  see  her  now  as  she  comes 
down  from  the  "Great  House,"  chained  to  twelve  others, 
to  be  carried  to  Lumpkin's  jail  in  Richmond  to  be  put 
upon  the  "block. "  She  had  been  united  to  a  slave  of  her 
choice  some  two  years  before,  and  a  little  innocent  babe 
had  been  born  to  them.  The  husband,  my  mother  with 
the  babe  in  her  arms,  and  other  slaves  watch  them  from 
the  "big  gate"  as  they  come  down  to  the  road  to  go  to 
their  destination  some  twenty  miles  away.  As  she  saw  us, 
great  tears  welled  up  in  her  big  black  eyes;  not  a  word 
could  she  utter  as  she  looked  her  last  sad  farewell.  She 
thought  of  one  of  the  old  slave-songs  we  used  to  sing  in 
the  cabin  prayer-meetings  at  night  as  we  turned  up  the 
pots  and  kettles,  and  filled  them  up  with  water  to  drown 
the  sound.  Being  blessed,  as  is  true  of  most  of  my  race, 
with  a  splendid  voice,  she  raised  her  eyes,  and  began  to 
sing: 

"  Brethren,  fare  you  well,  brethren,  fare  you  well, 
May  God  Almighty  bless  you  until  we  meet  again. " 

Singing  these  touching  lines  she  passed  out  of  sight. 
More  than  forty  years  have  passed,  and  she  and  her 
loved  ones  have  never  met  again,  unless  they  have  met 
in  the  Morning  land,  where  partings  are  no  more 

295 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

For  the  sufferings  we  have  endured,  leaving  their 
traces  indelibly  stamped  upon  us,  I  claim  your  aid  that 
we  may  have  for  our  children  this  blessed  Gospel,  the 
panacea  for  all  human  ills. 

The  Negro  has  elements  in  his  nature  that  make  him 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  religious  training.  He  stands 
as  a  monument  to  faithfulness  to  humble  duty,  one  of  the 
highest  marks  of  the  Christ-life.  He  is  humble  and  faith 
ful,  but  not  from  cowardice,  in  evidence  of  which  I  recall 
his  achievements  at  Boston,  Bunker  Hill,  New  Orleans, 
Milikens  Bend,  Wilson's  Landing,  and  San  Juan  Hill. 

He  fought  when  a  slave,  some  would  say,  from  com 
pulsion,  but  would  he  fight  for  love  of  the  flag  of  the 
Union?  God  gave  him  a  chance  to  answer  the  question 
at  San  Juan  Hill.  The  story  is  best  understood  as  told 
to  me  by  one  of  the  brave  gth  Cavalry  as  he  lay  wounded 
at  Old  Point  Comfort,  Va. 

***** 

Up  go  the  splendid  Rough  Riders  amid  shot  and  shell 
from  enemies  concealed  in  fields,  trees,  ditches,  and  the 
block-house  on  the  hill.  The  galling  fire  proves  too  much 
for  them  and  back  they  come.  A  second  and  third 
assault  proves  equally  unavailing.  They  must  have  help. 
Help  arrives,  in  the  form  of  a  colored  regiment.  See 
them  as  they  come,  black  as  the  sable  plume  of  mid 
night,  yet  irresistible  as  the  terrible  cyclone.  As  is  the 
custom  of  my  race  under  excitement  of  any  kind,  they 
are  singing,  not 

''My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 

Sweet  land  of  Liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing," 

296 


D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

though  fighting  willingly  for  the  land  that  gave  them 
birth;  not,  "The  Bonnie  blue  flag,"  though  they  were 
willing  to  die  for  the  flag  they  loved;  they  sing  a  song 
never  heard  on  battle-field  before,  "There's  a  hot  tune 
in  the  old  town  to-night. "  On  they  come,  trampling  on 
the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades;  they  climb  the  hill. 
"To  the  rear!"  is  the  command.  "To  the  front!"  they 
cry;  and  leaderless,  with  officers  far  in  the  rear,  they 
plant  the  flag  on  San  Juan  Hill,  and  prove  to  the  world 
that  Negroes  can  fight  for  love  of  country. 

They  were  faithful  to  humble  duty  in  the  dark  days 
of  the  South  from  1861  to  1865.  When  Jefferson  Davis 
had  called  for  troops  until  he  had  well-nigh  decimated 
the  fair  Southland,  and  even  boys,  in  their  devotion  to 
the  cause  they  loved  dearly,  were  willing  to  go  to  the 
front,  my  young  master  came  to  my  old  mistress  and 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  go.  Calling  my  Uncle  Isaac,  my 
old  mistress  said  to  him,  "Isaac,  go  along  with  your 
young  Mars  Edmund,  take  good  care  of  him,  and  bring 
him  home  to  me."  "I  gwy  do  de  bes  I  kin,"  was  his 
reply.  Off  these  two  went,  amid  the  tears  of  the  whole 
plantation,  and  we  heard  no  more  of  them  for  some  time. 
One  night  we  were  startled  to  hear  the  dogs  howling  down 
in  the  pasture-lot,  always  to  the  Southern  heart  a  fore 
warning  of  death.  A  few  nights  thereafter,  my  mother 
heard  a  tapping  on  the  kitchen  window,  and,  on  going  to 
the  door,  saw  Uncle  Isaac  standing  there — alone.  "  What 
in  the  world  are  you  doing  here?"  was  the  question  of  my 
mother.  ( '  Whar 's  mistis'  ? ' '  was  the  interrogative  answer, 
My  mother  went  to  call  the  mistress,  who,  white  as  a 

297 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

sheet  repeated  the  question.  "Mistis',  I  done  de  besj  I 
could. "  Going  a  few  paces  from  the  door,  while  the  soft 
southern  moon  shone  pitilessly  through  the  solemn  pines, 
he  brought  the  dead  body  of  his  young  master  and  laid  it 
tenderly  at  his  mother's  feet.  He  had  brought  his  dead 
"massa"  on  his  back  a  distance  of  more  than  twenty 
miles  from  the  battle-field,  thus  faithfully  keeping  his 
promise.  Such  an  act  of  devotion  can  never  be  forgotten 
while  memory  holds  its  sacred  office.  Not  one  case  of 
nameless  crime  was  ever  heard  in  those  days,  though  the 
flower  of  the  womanhood  of  the  South  was  left  prac 
tically  helpless  in  the  hands  of  black  men  in  Southern 
plantations. 

"But  as  a  faithful  watch-dog  stands  and  guards  with  jealous  eye, 
He  cared  for  master's  wife  and  child,  and  at  the  door  would  lie, 
To  shed  his  blood  in  their  defense,  'gainst  traitors,  thieves,  and 

knaves, 
Altho'  those  masters  went  to  fight  to  keep  them  helpless  slaves. " 

Some  have  claimed  that,  instead  of  putting  so  much 
money  in  churches,  the  Negro,  after  the  war,  should  have 
built  mills  and  factories,  and  thus  would  have  advanced 
more  rapidly  in  civilization;  but  I  rejoice  that  he  did 
build  churches,  and  to-day  can  say  that  of  the  three 
hundred  millions  he  has  accumulated,  more  than  forty 
millions  are  in  church  property  in  the  sixteen  Southern 
States.  This  shows  his  fidelity  and  gratitude  to  God, 
and  that  by  intuition  he  had  grasped  the  fundamental 
fact  that  faith  and  love  and  morality  are  greater  bulwarks 
for  the  perpetuity  of  a  nation  than  material  wealth;  that 
somehow  he  was  in  accord  with  God's  holy  mandate  that 

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D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

"man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone."  Guided  by  a 
superior  wisdom,  he  first  sought  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  it  does  seem  that  "all  these  things"  are  slowly  being 
added  to  him.  Education  and  wealth,  unsanctified  by 
the  grace  of  God,  are  after  all,  curses  rather  than  a  bless 
ing.  We  are  to  rise,  not  by  our  strong  bodies,  our  intel 
lectual  powers,  or  material  wealth,  although  these  are 
necessary  concomitants,  but  by  the  virtue,  character, 
and  honesty  of  our  men  and  women. 

We  are  proud  of  our  30,000  teachers,  2,000  graduated 
doctors,  1,000  lawyers,  20,000  ordained  ministers,  75,000 
business  men,  400  patentees,  and  250,000  farms  all  paid 
for,  as  evidences  of  our  possibilities,  but  proudest  of  the 
fact  that  nearly  three  millions  of  our  almost  ten  millions 
of  Negroes  are  professing  Christians.  It  is  true  that  the 
black  man  is  not  always  the  best  kind  of  a  Christian. 
He  is  often  rather  crude  in  worship,  with  a  rather  hazy 
idea  of  the  connection  between  religion  and  morality. 
A  colored  man,  on  making  a  loud  profession  of  religion, 
was  asked  if  he  were  going  to  pay  a  certain  debt  he  had 
contracted,  remarked,  "'Ligun  is  'ligun,  an*  bisnes'  is 
bisnes',  an'  I  aint  gwy  mix  um,"  yet  I  am  afraid  ours  is 
not  the  only  race  that  fails  to  "mix  um,"  and  he  does 
not  have  to  go  far  to  find  others  with  advantages  far 
superior  to  his,  who  have  not  reached  the  delectable 
mountain.  We,  like  others,  are  seeking  higher  ground, 
and  some  have  almost  reached  it.  Thank  God  we  can 
point  to  thousands  of  Negro  Christians  whose  faith  is  as 
strong  as  that  of  the  prophets  of  old,  and  whose  lives  are 
as  pure  and  sweet  as  the  morning  dew. 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Our  greatest  curse  to-day  is  the  rum-shop,  kept  far 
too  often  by  men  of  the  developed  and  forward  race  to 
filch  from  us  our  hard  earnings,  and  give  us  shame  and 
misery  in  return.  And  a  man  who  would  deliberately 
debauch  and  hinder  a  backward  race,  struggling  for  the 
light,  would  "rob  the  dead,  steal  the  orphan's  bread, 
pillage  the  palace  of  the  King  of  Kings,  and  clip  the 
angels'  pinions  while  they  sing. " 

Right  by  the  side  of  this  hindrance,  especially  in  the 
country  districts,  is  our  ignorant,  and,  in  too  many  cases, 
venial  ministry,  for  ignorance  is  the  greatest  curse  on 
earth,  save  sin.  The  Sunday-school  is  destined  to  be  the 
most  potent  factor  in  the  removal  of  this  evil.  As  our 
children  see  the  light  as  revealed  in  the  Sunday-school  by 
the  teachers  of  God's  word,  they  will  demand  an  intel 
ligent  and  moral  ministry  and  will  support  no  other. 
Let  me  say  to  you  that  there  is  no  agency  doing  more  in 
that  absolutely  necessary  and  fundamental  line  than  this 
God-sent  association. 

Wherever  your  missionaries  have  gone,  there  have 
been  magical  and  positive  changes  for  good,  and  the 
elevating  power  of  this  work  for  us  can  never  be  told. 
God  bless  the  thousands  of  Sunday-school  teachers  whose 
names  may  never  be  known  outside  their  immediate 
circles,  and  yet  are  doing  a  work  so  grand  and  noble  that 
angels  would  delight  to  come  down  and  bear  them  com 
pany. 

There  is  a  beautiful  story  told  in  Greek  mythology 
that  when  Ulysses  was  passing  in  his  ship  by  the  Isle  of 
the  Sirens,  the  beautiful  sirens  began  to  play  their  sweet- 

300 


D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

est  music  to  lure  the  sailors  from  their  posts  of  duty. 
Ulysses  and  his  sailors  stuffed  wax  in  their  ears,  and 
lashed  themselves  to  the  masts  that  they  might  not  be 
lured  away;  but,  when  Orpheus  passed  by  in  the  search  of 
the  golden  fleece  and  heard  the  same  sweet  songs,  he 
simply  took  out  his  harp  and  played  sweeter  music,  and 
not  a  sailor  desired  to  leave  the  vessel.  The  sirens  of  sin 
and  crime  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  lure  us  from  the 
highest  and  best  things  in  life.  Wealth,  education, 
political  power  are,  after  all,  but  wax  in  the  ears,  the  ropes 
that  may  or  may  not  hold  us  to  the  masts  of  safety; 
but  that  sweeter  music  of  the  heart,  played  on  the  harp 
of  love  by  the  fingers  of  faith  will  hold  us  stronger  than 
"hoops  of  steel. "  Let  the  great  Sunday-school  movement 
continue  to  play  for  us  this  sweeter  music,  and  no  sirens 
can  lure  us  away  from  truth  and  right  and  heaven.  The 
mission  that  will  be  of  real  help  to  us  will  be  the  mission 
dictated  by  love,  for  no  race  is  more  susceptible  to  kind 
ness  than  ours.  It  must  be  undertaken  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Master  who  said,  "I  call  ye  not  servants,  for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth;  but  I  have  called  you 
friends. "  The  Negro  loves  his  own  and  is  satisfied  to  be 
with  them,  and  yet,  the  man  who  would  really  help  him 
must  be  a  man  who  has  seen  the  vision.  Peter  was 
unwilling  to  go  to  the  Gentiles,  being  an  orthodox  Jew, 
until  God  put  him  in  a  trance  upon  the  house  top,  let 
down  the  sheet  from  heaven  with  all  manner  of  beasts, 
and  bid  him  rise  up,  slay,  and  eat.  Peter  strenuously 
objected,  saying,  "Lord,  I  have  touched  nothing  un 
clean.  "  But  God  said,  "What  I  have  cleansed,  call  thou 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

not  unclean."  Then  Peter  said,  "I  see  of  a  truth  that 
God  is  no  respector  of  persons,  but  has  made  of  one  blood 
all  men  to  dwell  upon  all  the  face  of  the  earth. " 

I  pray,  I  believe,  that  you  have  seen  this  vision,  and 
in  this  spirit  have  come  to  help  us.  Sir  Launfaul,  in 
searching  for  the  Holy  Grail,  found  it  in  ministering  to 
the  suffering  and  diseased  at  his  own  door.  Ye  who  are 
in  search  of  God's  best  gift  can  find  it  to-day  in  lifting  up 
these  ten  millions  of  people  at  your  door,  broken  by 
slavery,  bound  by  ignorance,  yet  groping  for  the  light. 
If  we  go  down  in  sin  and  ignorance,  we  can  not  go  alone, 
but  must  contaminate  and  curse  millions  unborn.  If  we 
go  up,  as  in  God's  name  we  will,  we  will  constitute  the 
brightest  star  in  your  crown.  What  religion  has  done 
for  others,  it  will  do  for  us.  See  the  triumphs  of  King 
Emanuel  in  Africa,  Burmah,  China,  and  the  isles  of  the 
sea.  It  was  Christianity  that  liberated  four  millions  of 
slaves,  and  brought  them  to  their  better  position.  Chris 
tian  men,  North  and  South,  are  helping  them  to-day. 

We  could  not  rise  alone. 

***** 

Has  the  Negro  made  improvement  commensurate 
with  the  help  he  has  received  from  North  and  South? 
I  believe  he  has,  and  that  each  year  finds  him  better  than 
the  last.  Good  Dr.  Talmage  was  visiting  a  parishioner 
when  a  little  girl  sat  on  his  knee.  Seeing  his  seamed  and 
wrinkled  face,  she  asked,  "Doctor,  did  God  make  you" 
"Yes,"  was  the  reply.  Then,  looking  at  her  own  sweet, 
rosy  face  in  a  glass  opposite,  she  asked,  "Did  God  make 
me,  too?"  "Yes. "  "Did  God  make  me  after  he  made 

302 


D.  WEBSTER  DAVIS 

you?"  "Yes,  my  child,  why?"  Looking  again  at  his 
face  and  hers,  she  said,  "Well.  Doctor,  God  is  doing 
better  work  these  days. " 

God  bless  our  mothers  and  fathers;  no  nobler  souls 
ever  lived  under  such  circumstances;  but  God  has 
answered  their  prayers,  and  with  the  young  folks  will  do 
better  work.  The  convention  helps  us  to  help  ourselves, 
the  only  true  help,  and  in  this  the  conveners  are  invest 
ing  in  soul-power  that  pays  the  biggest  dividends,  and 
its  bonds  are  always  redeemable  at  the  Bank  of 
Heaven. 

In  a  terrible  storm  at  sea,  when  all  the  passengers 
were  trembling  with  fear,  one  little  boy  stood  calm  and 
serene.  "Why  so  calm,  my  little  man?"  asked  one. 
"My  father  runs  this  ship,"  was  the  reply.  I  have  too 
much  confidence  in  what  religion  has  done  and  too  much 
faith  in  what  it  can  do,  to  be  afraid.  "God's  in  his 
heaven,  all's  right  with  the  world. "  Let  each  do  his  part 
to  help  on  the  cause. 

"There  is  never  a  rose  in  all  the  world 

But  makes  some  green  spray  sweeter; 
There  is  never  a  wind  in  all  the  sky 

But  makes  some  bird's  wing  fleeter; 
There  is  never  a  star  but  brings  to  earth 

Some  silvery  radiance  tender, 
And  never  a  sunset  cloud  but  helps 

To  cheer  the  sunset's  splendor. 
No  robin  but  may  cheer  some  heart, 

Its  dawnlight  gladness  voicing; 
God  gives  us  all  some  small  sweet  way 

To  set  the  world  rejoicing. " 
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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

America,  I  believe,  is  destined  of  God  to  be  the  land 
that  shall  flow  with  milk  and  honey,  the  King's  Highway, 
when  the  "ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come 
to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads; 
they  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and 
mourning  shall  flee  away. " 

I  see  gathered  upon  our  fair  western  plain  nations  of 
all  the  earth.  The  Italian  is  there  and  thinks  of  "Italia, 
fair  Italia!"  The  Frenchman  sings  his  " Marsellaise. " 
The  solid,  phlegmatic  German  sings  his  "Die  Wacht  am 
Rhein."  The  Irish  sing  "Killarney"  and  "Wearin'  the 
Green";  the  Scotchman  his  "Blue  Bells";  the  English 
man,  "God  save  the  King!";  the  American,  the  "Star- 
spangled  Banner."  God  bless  the  patriot,  but  the 
ultimate  end  of  all  governments  is  that  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  may  prevail.  One  towering  Christian  man  thinks 
of  this,  and  seeing  a  black  man  standing  by  without  home 
or  country  remembers  that  "all  are  Christ's  and  Christ's 
is  God's."  He  swings  a  baton  high  in  air  and  starts  a 
grand  hallelujah  chorus.  Forgot  is  all  else  as  the  grand 
chorus,  white  and  black,  of  every  age  and  every  clime, 
sing  till  heaven's  arches  ring  again,  while  angels  from  the 
battlements  of  heaven  listen  and  wave  anew  the  palm- 
branches  from  the  trees  of  paradise,  and  the  angels'  choir 
that  sang  on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  more  than  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago  join  in  the  grand  refrain, 

"All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name, 

Let  angels  prostrate  fall; 
Bring  forth  the  royal  diadem, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. " 
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WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON:  A  CENTENNIAL 

ORATION* 

BY  REVERDY  C.  RANSOM,  D.  D. 
Editor  A.  M.  E.  Church  Review 

Friends,  Citizens: 

We  have  assembled  here  to-night  to  celebrate  the  one 
hundredth  birth  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  Not  far 
from  this  city  he  was  born.  Within  the  gates  of  this 
city,  made  famous  by  some  of  America's  most  famous 
men,  he  spent  more  than  two-thirds  of  his  long  and  event 
ful  career,  enriching  its  history  and  adding  to  the  glory 
of  its  renown.  This  place,  of  all  places,  is  in  keeping 
with  the  hour.  It  is  most  appropriate  that  we  should 
meet  in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  cradle  of  American  liberty,  a 
spot  hallowed  and  made  sacred  by  the  statesmen,  soldiers, 
orators,  scholars,  and  reformers  who  have  given  expres 
sion  to  burning  truths  and  found  a  hearing  within  these 
walls.  Of  all  people  it  is  most  fitting  that  the  Negro 
Americans  of  Boston  should  be  the  ones  to  take  the 
lead  in  demonstrating  to  their  fellow-citizens,  and  to 
the  world,  that  his  high  character  is  cherished  with 
affection,  and  the  priceless  value  of  his  unselfish  labors 

*Delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the  Citizen's  Celebration  of  xooth  Anniver 
sary  of  the  birth  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  League,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A.,  Dec.  u,  1905. 

305 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

in  their  behalf  shall  forever  be  guarded  as  a  sacred 
trust. 

Only  succeeding  generations  and  centuries  can  tell 
the  carrying  power  of  a  man's  life.  Some  men,  whose 
contemporaries  thought  their  title  to  enduring  fame 
secure,  have  not  been  judged  worthy  in  a  later  time  to 
have  their  names  recorded  among  the  makers  of  history. 
Some  men  are  noted,  some  are  distinguished,  some  are 
famous, — only  a  few  are  great. 

The  men  whose  deeds  are  born  to  live  in  history  do 
not  appear  more  than  once  or  twice  in  a  century.  Of  the 
millions  of  men  who  toil  and  strive,  the  number  is  not 
large  whose  perceptible  influence  reaches  beyond  the 
generation  in  which  they  lived.  It  does  not  take  long 
to  call  the  roll  of  honor  of  any  generation,  and  when  this 
roll  is  put  to  the  test  of  the  unprejudiced  scrutiny  of  a 
century,  only  a  very  small  and  select  company  have  suf- 
ficent  carrying  power  to  reach  into  a  second  century. 
When  the  roll  of  the  centuries  is  called,  we  may  mention 
almost  in  a  single  breath  the  names  which  belong  to  the 
ages.  Abraham  and  Moses  stand  out  clearly  against 
the  horizon  of  thirty  centuries.  St.  Paul,  from  his 
Roman  prison,  in  the  days  of  the  Caesars,  is  still  an  articu 
late  and  authoritative  voice;  Savonarola,  rising  from 
the  ashes  of  his  funeral-pyre  in  the  streets  of  Florence, 
still  pleads  for  civic  righteousness;  the  sound  of  Martin 
Luther's  hammer  nailing  his  thesis  to  the  door  of  his 
Wittenburg  church  continues  to  echo  around  the  world; 
the  battle-cry  of  CromwelPs  Ironsides  shouting,  "The 
Lord  of  Hosts! "  still  causes  the  tyrant  and  the  despot 

306 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

to  tremble  upon  their  thrones;  out  of  the  fire  and  blood 
of  the  French  Revolution,  "Liberty  and  Equality"  sur 
vive;  Abraham  Lincoln  comes  from  the  backwoods  of 
Kentucky,  and  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  to  receive  the 
approval  of  all  succeeding  generations  of  mankind  for 
his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation;  John  Brown  was 
hung  at  Harper's  Ferry  that  his  soul  might  go  marching 
on  in  the  tread  of  every  Northern  regiment  that  fought 
for  the  "Union  forever;"  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  mob 
bed  in  the  streets  of  Boston  for  pleading  the  cause  of  the 
slave,  lived  to  see  freedom  triumph,  and  to-night,  a 
century  after  his  birth,  his  name  is  cherished,  not  only 
in  America,  but  around  the  world,  wherever  men  aspire 
to  individual  liberty  and  personal  freedom. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  in  earnest.  He  neither 
temporized  nor  compromised  with  the  enemies  of  human 
freedom.  He  gave  up  all  those  comforts,  honors,  and 
rewards  which  his  unusual  talents  would  easily  have 
won  for  him  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  freedom  which  he 
espoused.  He  stood  for  righteousness  with  all  the  nig 
ged  strength  of  a  prophet.  Like  some  Elijah  of  the 
Gilead  forests,  he  pleaded  with  this  nation  to  turn  away 
from  the  false  gods  it  had  enshrined  upon  the  altars  of 
human  liberty.  Like  some  John  the  Baptist  crying  in 
the  wilderness,  he  called  upon  this  nation  to  repent  of  its 
sin  of  human  slavery,  and  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  its 
repentance  in  immediate  emancipation. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  born  in  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  Dec.  10,  1805.  He  came  of  very  poor  and  obscure 
parentage.  His  father,  who  was  a  seafaring  man,  early 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

abandoned  the  family  for  causes  supposed  to  relate  to  his 
intemperance.  The  whole  career  of  Garrison  was  a 
struggle  against  poverty.  His  educational  advantages 
were  limited.  He  became  a  printer's  apprentice  when 
quite  a  lad,  and  learned  the  printing  trade.  When  he 
launched  his  paper,  The  Liberator,  which  was  to  deal 
such  destructive  blows  to  slavery,  the  type  was  set  by 
his  own  hands.  The  motto  of  The  Liberator  was  "Our 
country  is  the  world,  our  countrymen  mankind." 

Garrison  did  not  worship  the  golden  calf.  His  course 
could  not  be  changed,  nor  his  opinion  influenced  by 
threats  of  violence  or  the  bribe  of  gold.  Money  could 
not  persuade  him  to  open  his  mouth  against  the  truth, 
or  buy  his  silence  from  uncompromising  denunciation  of 
the  wrong.  He  put  manhood  above  money,  humanity 
above  race,  the  justice  of  God  above  the  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  conscience  above  the  Constitution. 
Because  he  took  his  stand  upon  New  Testament  righteous 
ness  as  taught  by  Christ,  he  was  regarded  as  a  fanatic 
in  a  Christian  land.  When  he  declared  that  "he  deter 
mined  at  every  hazard  to  lift  up  a  standard  of  emanci 
pation  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation,  within  sight  of  Bunker 
Hill  and  in  the  birthplace  of  liberty,"  he  was  regarded  as 
a  public  enemy,  in  a  nation  conceived  in  liberty  and 
dedicated  to  freedom! 

Garrison  drew  his  arguments  from  the  Bible  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  only  to  be  jeered  as  a  wild 
enthusiast.  He  would  not  retreat  a  single  inch  from  the 
straight  path  of  liberty  and  justice.  He  refused  to  pur 
chase  peace  at  the  price  of  freedom.  He  would  not  drift 

308 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

with  the  current  of  the  public  opinion  of  his  day.  His 
course  was  up-stream;  his  battle  against  the  tide.  He 
undertook  to  create  a  right  public  sentiment  on  the  ques 
tion  of  freedom,  a  task  as  great  as  it  was  difficult.  Gar 
rison  thundered  warnings  to  arouse  the  public  conscience 
before  the  lightnings  of  his  righteous  wrath  and  the  shafts 
of  his  invincible  logic  wounded  the  defenders  of  slavery 
in  all  the  vulnerable  joints  of  their  armor.  He  declared: 
"Let  Southern  oppressors  tremble — let  their  secret  abet 
tors  tremble;  let  their  Northern  apologists  tremble; 
let  all  the  enemies  of  the  persecuted  blacks  tremble." 
For  such  utterances  as  these  his  name  throughout  the 
nation  became  one  of  obloquy  and  reproach. 

He  was  not  bound  to  the  slave  by  the  ties  of  race,  but 
by  the  bond  of  common  humanity  which  he  considered 
a  stronger  tie.  In  his  struggle  for  freedom  there  was  no 
hope  of  personal  gain;  he  deliberately  chose  the  pathway 
of  financial  loss  and  poverty.  There  were  set  before  his 
eyes  no  prospect  of  honor,  no  pathways  leading  to  pro 
motion,  no  voice  of  popular  approval,  save  that  of  his 
conscience  and  his  God.  His  friends  and  neighbors 
looked  upon  him  as  one  who  brought  a  stigma  upon  the 
fair  name  of  the  city  in  which  he  lived.  The  business 
interests  regarded  him  as  an  influence  which  disturbed 
and  injured  the  relations  of  commerce  and  of  trade;  the 
Church  opposed  him;  the  press  denounced  him;  the 
State  regarded  him  as  an  enemy  of  the  established  order; 
the  North  repudiated  him;  the  South  burned  him  in 
effigy.  Yet,  almost  single-handed  and  alone,  Garrison 
continued  to  fight  on,  declaring  that  "his  reliance  for 

800 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  deliverance  of  the  oppressed  universally  is  upon  the 
nature  of  man,  the  inherent  wrongfulness  of  oppression, 
the  power  of  truth,  and  the  omnipotence  of  God."  After 
the  greatest  civil  war  that  ever  immersed  a  nation  in  a 
baptism  of  blood  and  tears,  Garrison,  unlike  most  re 
formers,  lived  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  cause  for  which 
he  fought  and  every  slave  not  only  acknowledged  as  a 
free  man,  but  clothed  with  the  dignity  and  powers  of 
American  citizenship.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  has  passed 
from  us,  but  the  monumental  character  of  his  work  and 
the  influence  of  his  life  shall  never  perish.  While  there 
are  wrongs  to  be  righted,  despots  to  be  attacked,  oppres 
sors  to  be  overthrown,  peace  to  find  and  advocate,  and 
freedom  a  voice,  the  name  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
will  live. 

Those  who  would  honor  Garrison  and  perpetuate  his 
memory  and  his  fame  must  meet  the  problems  that  con 
front  them  with  the  same  courage  and  in  the  same  uncom 
promising  spirit  that  Garrison  met  the  burning  questions 
of  the  day.  Those  who  would  honor  Garrison  in  one 
breath,  while  compromising  our  manhood  and  advocating 
the  surrender  of  our  political  rights  in  another,  not  only 
dishonor  his  memory,  not  only  trample  the  flag  of  our 
country  with  violent  and  unholy  feet,  but  they  spit  upon 
the  grave  which  holds  the  sacred  dust  of  this  chiefest  of 
the  apostles  of  freedom. 

The  status  of  the  Negro  in  this  country  was  not  set 
tled  by  emancipation;  the  i5th  Amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution,  which  it  was  confidently  believed  would  clothe 
him  forever  with  political  influence  and  power,  is  more 

310 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

bitterly  opposed  to-day  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.  The  place  which  the  Negro  is  to  occupy  is  still  a  vital 
and  burning  question.  The  newspaper  press  and  maga 
zines  are  full  of  it;  literature  veils  its  discussion  of  the 
theme  under  the  guise  of  romance;  political  campaigns 
are  waged  with  this  question  as  a  paramount  issue;  it  is 
written  into  the  national  platform  of  great  political 
parties;  it  tinges  legislation;  it  has  invaded  the  domain 
of  dramatic  art,  until  to-day,  it  is  enacted  upon  the  stage; 
philanthropy,  scholarship,  and  religion  are,  each  from 
their  point  of  view,  more  industriously  engaged  in  its 
solution  than  they  have  been  in  any  previous  generation. 
If  the  life  and  labors  of  Garrison,  and  the  illustrious  men 
and  women  who  stood  with  him,  have  a  message  for  the 
present,  we  should  seek  to  interpret  its  meaning  and  lay 
the  lesson  to  heart. 

The  scenes  have  shifted,  but  the  stage  is  the  same; 
the  leading  characters  have  not  changed.  We  still  have 
with  us  powerful  influences  trying  to  keep  the  Negro 
down  by  unjust  and  humiliating  legislation  and  degrading 
treatment;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  Negro  and  his 
friends  are  still  contending  for  the  same  privileges  and 
opportunities  that  are  freely  accorded  to  other  citizens 
whose  skins  do  not  happen  to  be  black.  We,  of  this 
nation,  are  slow  to  learn  the  lessons  taught  by  history; 
the  passions  which  feed  on  prejudice  and  tyranny  can 
neither  be  mollified  nor  checked  by  subjection,  surrender, 
or  compromise.  Self-appointed  representatives  of  the 
Negro,  his  enemies  and  his  would-be  friends,  are  pointing 
to  many  diverse  paths,  each  claiming  that  the  one  they 

311 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

have  marked  for  his  feet  is  the  proper  one  in  which  he 
should  walk.  There  is  but  one  direction  in  which  the 
Negro  should  steadfastly  look  and  but  one  path,  in  which 
he  should  firmly  plant  his  feet — that  is,  toward  the  reali 
zation  of  complete  manhood  and  equality,  and  the  full 
justice  that  belongs  to  an  American  citizen  clothed  with 
all  of  his  constitutional  power. 

This  is  a  crucial  hour  for  the  Negro  American;  men 
are  seeking  to-day  to  fix  his  industrial,  political,  and 
social  status  under  freedom  as  completely  as  they  did 
under  slavery.  As  this  nation  continued  unstable,  so 
long  as  it  rested  upon  the  foundation-stones  of  slavery 
so  will  it  remain  insecure  as  long  as  one-eighth  of  its 
citizens  can  be  openly  shorn  of  political  power,  while 
confessedly  they  are  denied  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness."  We  have  no  animosity  against  the  South 
or  against  Southern  people.  We  would  see  the  wounds 
left  by  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  healed;  but  we  would 
have  them  healed  so  effectually  that  they  could  not  be 
trodden  upon  and  made  to  bleed  afresh  by  inhuman  bar 
barities  and  unjust  legislation;  we  would  have  the  wounds 
of  this  nation  bound  up  by  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
friendly  to  the  patient,  so  that  they  might  not  remain  a 
political  running  sore.  We  would  have  the  bitter  memo 
ries  of  the  war  effaced,  but  they  cannot  fade  while  the 
spirit  of  slavery  walks  before  the  nation  in  a  new  guise. 
We,  too,  would  have  a  reunited  country;  but  we  would 
have  the  re-union  to  include  not  only  white  men  North 
and  South,  but  a  union  so  endearing,  because  so  just,  as  to 

312 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

embrace  all  of  our  fellow-countrymen,  regardless  of  sec 
tion  or  of  race. 

+    *    *    *    + 

It  is  not  a  man's  right,  it  is  his  duty  to  support  and 
defend  his  family  and  his  home;  he  should  therefore  resist 
any  influence  exerted  to  prevent  him  from  maintaining 
his  dependants  in  comfort;  while  he  should  oppose  with 
his  life  the  invader  or  despoiler  of  his  home.  God  had 
created  man  with  a  mind  capable  of  infinite  development 
and  growth;  it  is  not,  therefore,  a  man's  right,  it  is  his 
duty  to  improve  his  mind  and  to  educate  his  children; 
he  should  not,  therefore,  submit  to  conditions  which 
would  compel  them  to  grow  up  in  ignorance.  Man  be 
longs  to  society;  it  is  his  duty  to  make  his  personal  con 
tribution  of  the  best  that  is  within  him  to  the  common 
good;  he  can  do  this  only  as  he  is  given  opportunity  to 
freely  associate  with  his  fellow-man.  He  should,  there 
fore,  seek  to  overthrow  the  artificial  social  barriers  which 
would  intervene  to  separate  him  from  realizing  the  highest 
and  best  there  are  within  him  by  freedom  of  association. 
It  is  a  man's  duty  to  be  loyal  to  his  country  and  his  flag, 
but  when  his  country  becomes  a  land  of  oppression  and 
his  flag  an  emblem  of  injustice  and  wrong,  it  becomes  as 
much  his  duty  to  attack  the  enemies  within  the  nation 
as  to  resist  the  foreign  invader.  Tyrants  and  tyranny 
everywhere  should  be  attacked  and  overthrown. 

This  is  a  period  of  transition  in  the  relations  of  the 
Negro  to  this  nation.  The  question  which  America  is 
trying  to  answer,  and  which  is  must  soon  definitely  set 
tle,  is  this:  What  kind  of  Negroes  do  the  American  people 

313 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

want?  That  they  must  have  the  Negro  in  some  relation 
is  no  longer  a  question  of  serious  debate.  The  Negro  is 
here  10,000,000  strong,  and,  for  weal  or  woe,  he  is  here 
to  stay — he  is  here  to  remain  forever.  In  the  government 
he  is  a  political  factor;  in  education  and  in  wealth  he  is 
leaping  forward  with  giant  strides;  he  counts  his  taxable 
property  by  the  millions,  his  educated  men  and  women 
by  the  scores  of  thousands;  in  the  South  he  is  the  back 
bone  of  industry;  in  every  phase  of  American  life  his 
presence  may  be  noted;  he  is  also  as  thoroughly  imbued 
with  American  principles  and  ideals  as  any  class  of 
people  beneath  our  flag.  When  Garrison  started  his 
fight  for  freedom,  it  was  the  prevailing  sentiment  that 
the  Negro  could  have  no  place  in  this  country  save  that 
of  a  slave,  but  he  has  proven  himself  to  be  more  valuable 
as  a  free  man  than  as  a  slave.  What  kind  of  Negroes 
do  the  American  people  want?  Do  they  want  a  voteless 
Negro  in  a  Republic  founded  upon  universal  suffrage? 
Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  shall  not  be  permitted  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  government  which  he  must  support  with 
his  treasure  and  defend  with  his  blood?  Do  they  want 
a  Negro  who  shall  consent  to  be  set  apart  as  forming  a 
distinct  industrial  class,  permitted  to  rise  no  higher  than 
the  level  of  serfs  or  peasants?  Do  they  want  a  Negro 
who  shall  accept  an  inferior  social  position,  not  as  a 
degradation,  but  as  the  just  operation  of  the  laws  of 
caste  based  upon  color?  Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  will 
avoid  friction  between  the  races  by  consenting  to  occupy 
the  place  to  which  white  men  may  choose  to  assign  him? 
What  kind  of  a  Negro  do  the  American  people  want? 

314 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  will  accept  the  doctrine,  that 
however  high  he  may  rise  in  the  scale  of  character,  wealth, 
and  education,  he  may  never  hope  to  associate  as  an  equal 
with  white  men?  Do  white  men  believe  that  10,000,000 
blacks,  after  having  imbibed  the  spirit  of  American  insti 
tutions,  and  having  exercised  the  rights  of  free  men  for 
more  than  a  generation,  will  ever  accept  a  place  of  per 
manent  inferiority  in  the  Republic?  Taught  by  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  sustained  by  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  enlightened  by  the  education 
of  our  schools,  this  nation  can  no  more  resist  the  advan 
cing  tread  of  the  hosts  of  the  oncoming  blacks  than  it 
can  bind  the  stars  or  halt  the  resistless  motion  of  the  tide. 
The  answer  which  the  American  people  may  give  to 
the  question  proposed  cannot  be  final.  There  is  another 
question  of  greater  importance  which  must  be  answered 
by  the  Negro,  and  by  the  Negro  alone:  What  kind  of  an 
American  does  the  Negro  intend  to  be?  The  answer  to  this 
question  he  must  seek  and  find  in  every  field  of  human 
activity  and  endeavor.  First,  he  must  answer  it  by 
negation.  He  does  not  intend  to  be  an  alien  in  the  land 
of  his  birth,  nor  an  outcast  in  the  home  of  his  fathers. 
He  will  not  consent  to  his  elimination  as  a  political 
factor;  he  will  refuse  to  camp  forever  on  the  borders 
of  the  industrial  world;  as  an  American  he  will  consider 
that  his  destiny  is  united  by  indissoluble  bonds  with  the 
destiny  of  America  forever;  he  will  strive  less  to  be  a 
great  Negro  in  this  Republic  and  more  to  be  an  influential 
and  useful  American.  As  intelligence  is  one  of  the  chief 
safeguards  of  the  Republic,  he  will  educate  his  children. 

315 


MASTERPIECES  OF   NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Knowing  that  a  people  cannot  perish  whose  morals  are 
above  reproach,  he  will  ally  himself  on  the  side  of  the 
forces  of  righteousness;  having  been  the  object  of  injus 
tice  and  wrong,  he  will  be  the  foe  of  anarchy  and  the 
advocate  of  the  supremacy  of  law.  As  an  American 
citizen,  he  will  allow  no  man  to  protest  his  title,  either 
at  home  or  abroad.  He  will  insist  more  and  more,  not 
only  upon  voting,  but  upon  being  voted  for,  to  occupy  any 
position  within  the  gift  of  the  nation.  As  an  American 
whose  title  to  citizenship  is  without  a  blemish  or  flaw, 
he  will  resist  without  compromise  every  law  upon  the 
statute-books  which  is  aimed  at  his  degradation  as  a  hu 
man  being  and  humiliation  as  a  citizen.  He  will  be  no 
less  ambitious  and  aspiring  than  his  fellow-countrymen; 
he  will  assert  himself,  not  as  a  Negro,  but  as  a  man;  he 
will  beat  no  retreat  in  the  face  of  his  enemies  and  opposers; 
his  gifted  sons  and  daughters,  children  of  genius  who  may 
be  born  to  him,  will  make  their  contribution  to  the  prog 
ress  of  humanity  on  these  shores,  accepting  nothing  but 
the  honors  and  rewards  that  belong  to  merit.  What 
kind  of  an  American  does  the  Negro  intend  to  be?  He 
intends  to  be  an  American  who  will  never  mar  the  image 
of  God,  reproach  the  dignity  of  his  manhood,  or  tarnish 
the  fair  title  of  his  citizenship,  by  apologizing  to  men  or 
angels  for  associating  as  an  equal,  with  some  other 
American  who  does  not  happen  to  be  black.  He  will 
place  the  love  of  country  above  the  love  of  race;  he  will 
consider  no  task  too  difficult,  no  sacrifice  too  great,  in 
his  effort  to  emancipate  his  country  from  the  un-Christlike 
feelings  of  race  hatred  and  the  American  bondage  of 

316 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

prejudice.  There  is  nothing  that  injustice  so  much  re 
spects,  that  Americans  so  much  admire,  and  the  world 
so  much  applauds,  as  a  man  who  stands  erect  like  a  man, 
has  the  courage  to  speak  in  the  tones  of  a  man,  and  to 
fearlessly  act  a  man's  part. 

There  are  two  views  of  the  Negro  question  now  at 
last  clearly  defined.  One  is  that  the  Negro  should  stoop 
to  conquer;  that  he  should  accept  in  silence  the  denial  of 
his  political  rights;  that  he  should  not  brave  the  dis 
pleasure  of  white  men  by  protesting  when  he  is  segre 
gated  in  humiliating  ways  upon  the  public  carriers  and  in 
places  of  public  entertainment;  that  he  may  educate  his 
children,  buy  land,  and  save  money,  but  he  must  not 
insist  upon  his  children  taking  their  place  in  the  body 
politic  to  which  their  character  and  intelligence  entitle 
them;  he  must  not  insist  on  ruling  the  land  which  he 
owns  or  farms;  he  must  have  no  voice  as  to  how  the 
money  he  has  accumulated  is  to  be  expended  through 
taxation  and  the  various  forms  of  public  improvement. 
There  are  others  who  believe  that  the  Negro  owes  this 
nation  no  apology  for  his  presence  in  the  United  States; 
that,  being  black,  he  is  still  no  less  a  man;  that  he  should 
not  yield  one  syllable  of  his  title  to  American  citizenship; 
that  he  should  refuse  to  be  assigned  to  an  inferior  plane 
by  his  fellow-countrymen;  though  foes  conspire  against 
him  and  powerful  friends  desert  him,  he  should  refuse 
to  abdicate  his  sovereignty  as  a  citizen,  and  to  lay  down 
his  honor  as  a  man. 

If  Americans  become  surfeited  with  wealth,  haughty 
with  the  boasting  pride  of  race  superiority,  morally  cor- 

317 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

nipt  in  the  high  places  of  honor  and  of  trust,  enervated 
through  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  or  the  political  bondmen 
of  some  strong  man  plotting  to  seize  the  reins  of  power, 
the  Negro  American  will  continue  his  steadfast  devotion 
to  the  flag,  and  the  unyielding  assertion  of  his  constitu 
tional  rights,  that  "this  government  of  the  people,  for 
the  people,  and  by  the  people,  may  not  perish  from  the 
earth." 

It  is  so  marvelous  as  to  be  like  a  miracle  of  God,  to 
behold  the  transformation  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
position  of  the  Negro  in  this  land  since  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  first  saw  the  light  a  century  ago.  When  the 
Negro  had  no  voice,  Garrison  pleaded  his  cause;  to-night 
the  descendants  of  the  slave  stand  in  Faneuil  Hall,  while 
from  ocean  to  ocean  every  foot  of  American  soil  is  dedi 
cated  to  freedom.  The  Negro  American  has  found  his 
voice;  he  is  able  to  speak  for  himself;  he  stands  upon 
this  famous  platform  here  and  thinks  it  no  presumption 
to  declare  that  he  seeks  nothing  more,  and  will  be  satis 
fied  with  nothing  less  than  the  full  measure  of  American 
citizenship! 

I  feel  inspired  to-night.  The  spirits  of  the  champions 
of  freedom  hover  near.  High  above  the  stars,  Lincoln 
and  Garrison,  Sumner  and  Phillips,  Douglass  and  Love- 
joy,  look  down  to  behold  their  prayers  answered,  their 
labors  rewarded,  and  their  prophecies  fulfilled.  They 
were  patriots;  the  true  saviors  of  a  nation  that  esteemed 
them  not.  They  have  left  us  a  priceless  heritage.  Is 
there  to  be  found  among  us  now  one  who  would  so  dis 
honor  the  memory  of  these  sainted  dead;  one  so  lost 

318 


R.  C.  RANSOM 

to  love  of  country  and  loyalty  to  his  race,  as  to  offer  to 
sell  our  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage?  When  we  were 
slaves,  Garrison  labored  to  make  us  free;  when  our  man 
hood  was  denied,  he  proclaimed  it.  Shall  we  in  the  day 
of  freedom  be  less  loyal  to  our  country  and  true  to  our 
selves  than  were  the  friends  who  stood  for  us  in  our 
night  of  woe?  Many  victories  have  been  won  for  us; 
there  are  still  greater  victories  we  must  win  for  ourselves 
The  proclamation  of  freedom  and  the  bestowal  of  citi 
zenship  were  not  the  ultimate  goal  we  started  out  to 
reach,  they  were  but  the  beginnings  of  progress.  We,  of 
this  generation,  must  so  act  our  part  that,  a  century 
hence,  our  children  and  our  children's  children  may  honor 
our  memory  and  be  inspired  to  press  on  as  they  receive 
from  us  untarnished  the  banner  of  freedom,  of  manhood, 
and  of  equality  among  men. 

The  Negro  went  aboard  the  ship  of  state  when  she 
was  first  launched  upon  the  uncertain  waters  of  our 
national  existence.  He  booked  as  through  passenger 
until  she  should  reach  "the  utmost  sea-mark  of  her  far 
thest  sail."  When  those  in  command  treated  him  with 
injustice  and  brutality,  he  did  not  mutiny  or  rebel;  when 
placed  before  the  mast  as  a  lookout,  he  did  not  fall  asleep 
at  his  post.  He  has  helped  to  keep  her  from  being 
wrecked  upon  the  rocks  of  treachery;  he  has  imperiled 
his  life  by  standing  manfully  to  his  task  while  she  out 
rode  the  fury  of  a  threatening  sea;  when  the  pirate-craft 
of  rebellion  bore  down  upon  her  and  sought  to  place  the 
black  flag  of  disunion  at  her  masthead,  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  respond  when  the  captain  called  all  hands  up  on 

319 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

deck.  If  the  enemies  of  liberty  should  ever  again  attempt 
to  wreck  our  ship  of  state,  the  Negro  American  will  stand 
by  the  guns;  he  will  not  desert  her  when  she  is  sinking, 
but  with  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
nailed  to  the  masthead,  with  the  flag  afloat,  he  would 
prefer  rather  to  perish  with  her  than  to  be  numbered 
among  those  who  deserted  her  when  assailed  by  an  over 
whelming  foe.  If  she  weathers  the  storms  that  beat 
upon  her,  outsails  the  enemies  that  pursue  her,  avoids 
the  rocks  that  threaten  her,  and  anchors  at  last  in  the 
port  of  her  desired  haven,  black  Americans  and  white 
Americans,  locked  together  in  brotherly  embrace,  will 
pledge  each  other  to  remain  aboard  forever  on  terms  of 
equality,  because  they  shall  have  learned  by  experience 
that  neither  one  of  them  can  be  saved,  except  they  thus 
abide  in  the  ship. 

For  the  present  our  strivings  are  not  in  vain.  The 
injustice  that  leans  upon  the  arm  of  oppression  for  sup 
port  must  fall;  truth  perverted  or  suppressed  gains  in 
momentum  while  it  waits;  generations  may  perish,  but 
humanity  will  survive;  out  of  the  present  conflict  of 
opinion  and  the  differences  of  race  and  color  that  divide, 
once  the  tides  of  immigration  have  ceased  to  flow  to  our 
shores,  this  nation  will  evolve  a  people  who  shall  be  one 
in  purpose,  one  in  spirit,  one  in  destiny — a  composite 
American  by  the  co-mingling  of  blood. 


320 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN* 
BY  JAMES  L.  CURTIS,  of  New  York 

Since  the  curtain  rang  down  on  the  tragedy  of  Calvary, 
consummating  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
there  has  been  no  parallel  in  history,  sacred  or  profane,  to 
the  deeds  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  their  perennial  after 
math. 

For  two  hundred  years  this  nation  writhed  in  the  pain 
and  anguish  of  travail;  and  as  a  happy  sequel  to  this  long 
night  of  suffering,  in  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
she  bore  a  son  who  was  destined  to  awaken  a  nation's 
somnolent  conscience  to  a  monstrous  evil;  to  lead  a  nation 
through  a  fierce  seige  of  fratricidal  strife;  to  strike  the 
shackles  of  slavery  from  the  limbs  of  four  millions  of 
bondsmen;  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  assassin's  bullet;  to  be 
enshrined  in  the  hearts;  of  a  grateful  nation;  and  to  have 
an  eternal  abode  in  the  pantheon  of  immortals. 
*  *  *  *  * 

Abraham  Lincoln!  What  mighty  magic  is  this  name! 
Erstwhile  it  made  the  tyrant  tremble  on  his  throne  and 
the  hearts  of  the  down-trodden  leap  for  joy.  Now,  over 
the  chasm  of  two  score  years,  it  causes  the  drooping 

*  Speech  delivered  OB  the  Centenary  of  his  birth,  February  12,  1009. 

321 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

hopes  of  freemen  to  bud  anew,  and  the  smoldering  embers 
of  their  ambition  to  leap  into  flame. 

With  talismanic  power,  it  swerves  the  darts  of  hate 
and  malice  aimed  at  a  defenseless  race,  so  that  though 
they  wound,  they  do  not  destroy.  With  antidotal 
efficacy,  it  nullifies  the  virus  of  proscription  so  that  it 
does  not  stagnate  the  blood  nor  paralyze  the  limb  of  an 
up-treading  and  on-going  race. 

When  the  nation  was  rent  in  twain,  Lincoln,  the  pro 
pitiator,  counselled  conciliation.  When  the  States  of  the 
South  sought  to  secede,  Lincoln,  the  concatenator,  welded 
them  into  a  solid  chain,  one  and  inseparable.  When 
brother  sought  the  life  of  brother  and  father  that  of  son, 
Lincoln,  the  pacificator,  advised  peace  with  honor.  When 
the  nation  was  stupefied  with  the  miasma  of  human 
slavery,  Lincoln,  the  alleviator,  broke  its  horrid  spell  by 
diffusing  through  the  fire  of  war  the  sweet  incense  of 
liberty. 

The  cynic  has  sneered  at  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci 
pation.  The  dogmatist  has  called  the  great  Emancipator 
a  compromiser.  The  scholar,  with  the  eccentricity 
peculiar  to  genius,  has  solemnly  declared  that  the  slaves 
were  freed  purely  as  a  war  necessity  and  not  because  of 
any  consideration  for  the  slave.  The  undergraduate,  in 
imitation  of  his  erudite  tutors,  has  asserted  that  the 
freedmen  owe  more  to  the  pride  of  the  haughty 
Southerner  than  to  the  magnanimity  of  President  Lin 
coln.  But  the  mists  of  doubt  and  misconception  have 
been  so  dissipated  by  the  sunlight  of  history,  that  we, 

322 


JAMES  L.  CURTIS 

of  this  generation,  may  clearly  see  the  martyred  President 
as  he  really  was. 

*      *      *      *      4 

All  honor  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  performer,  not  the 
preacher;  the  friend  of  humanity,  the  friend  of  the  North, 
the  friend  of  the  South,  the  friend  of  the  white  man,  the 
friend  of  the  black  man;  the  man  whose  heart,  like  the 
Christ's,  was  large  enough  to  bring  within  the  range  of  its 
sensibilities  every  human  being  beneath  the  stars.  The 
man  who,  when  God's  clock.struck  the  hour,  swung  back 
on  its  creaking  hinges  the  door  of  opportunity  that  the 
slaves  might  walk  over  its  portals  into  the  army  and  into 
new  fields  of  usefulness  in  civil  life. 

One  hundred  years  have  rolled  into  eternity  since 
freedom's  greatest  devotee  made  his  advent  on  this  earth. 
One  hundred  years,  as  but  a  moment  compared  with  the 
life  of  nations;  yet,  changes  in  our  form  of  government,  in 
the  interpretation  of  our  laws,  in  the  relation  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  in  the  status  of  the  Negro,  have 
been  wrought,  that  were  beyond  the  wildest  dreams  of 
Lincoln.  And  wonderful  as  have  been  these  changes  to 
our  advantage,  in  the  acquisition  of  property,  in  moral 
and  mental  development,  in  the  cultivation  of  sturdy 
manhood  and  womanhood,  yet,  all  these  have  come  to  us 
as  a  direct  result  of  the  labors  of  Lincoln,  who,  with  the 
ken  of  a  prophet  and  the  vision  of  a  seer,  in  those  dark 
and  turbulent  days,  wrought  more  nobly  than  he  knew. 

From  these  prodigious  tasks  so  well  performed,  I 
adjure  you,  my  friends,  that  you  catch  inspiration;  that 
you  take  no  backward  step  in  the  future;  that  you  prove 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

worthy  heirs  and  joint  heirs  to  the  heritage  of  golden 
opportunities  bequeathed  you;  that  you  demand  every 
right  with  which  his  labors  have  endowed  you;  and  that 
the  righteous  sentiment  of  "Equal  and  Exact  Justice" 
be  emblazoned  on  a  banner  and  flaunted  in  the  breezes 
till  every  foe  of  justice  is  vanquished  and  right  rules 
supreme. 

That  you  will  do  this,  I  doubt  not,  for  in  my  heart  of 
hearts,  I  believe  with  Henry  Clay  that  "Before  you  can 
repress  the  tendencies  to  liberty,  or  the  tendencies  to 
absolute  emancipation  from  every  form  of  serfdom,  you 
must  go  back  to  the  era  of  our  independence  and  muzzle 
the  cannon  which  thunders  its  joyous  return;  you  must 
penetrate  the  human  soul  and  eradicate  there  the  love  of 
liberty. "  Then,  and  not  till  then,  can  you  stifle  the 
ennobling  aspiration  of  the  American  Negro  for  the 
unabridged  enjoyment  of  every  right  guaranteed  under 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 


324 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN   AND    FIFTY   YEARS    OF 
FREEDOM* 

BY  ALEXANDER  WALTERS,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  A.M.  E.  Zion  Church 

The  distinguished  person  whom  we  pause  to  honor 
was  not  born  great,  if  to  be  born  great  means  to  be  born  in 
a  mansion,  surrounded  at  the  start  of  life  with  opulence, 
"dangled  on  the  knee  of  indulgence  and  charmed  to  sleep 
by  the  voice  of  liveried  servants" ;  if  this  is  the  measure  of 
greatness,  then  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  born  great, — 
but  if  to  be  born  great  is  to  be  ushered  into  the  world 
with  embryonic  qualities  of  heart,  elements  calculated 
to  unfold  into  the  making  of  the  stature  of  a  complete 
man,  a  manly  man,  a  brave,  a  God-fearing  man — a 
statesman  equal  to  the  greatest  emergency  of  a  nation, 
then  the  little  fellow  of  destiny  who  made  his  initial 
bow  to  the  goddess  of  light  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky, 
February  12,  1809,  was  born  great. 

If  to  achieve  greatness  is  to  win  the  hearts  of  one's 
youthful  companions,  one's  associates  in  professional  life, 
and  to  merit  the  confidence  and  genuine  love  of  a  nation 
to  the  extent  of  securing  its  greatest  honors  and  to  perform 


*Extract  from  address  given  at  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York,  February  12, 
1909. 

325 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  mightiest  work  of  a  century,  then  Abraham  Lincoln 

achieved  greatness. 

*    *    *    *    • 

The  assertion  has  been  made  that  President  Lin 
coln  was  not  in  favor  of  universal  freedom.  I  beg  to  take 
issue  with  this  view. 

A  careful  study  of  this  sincere,  just,  and  sympa 
thetic  man  will  serve  to  show  that  from  his  earliest  years 
he  was  against  slavery.  He  declared  again  and  again; 
"If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong;  I  cannot  re 
member  when  I  did  not  so  think  and  feel." 

Back  in  the  thirties  this  young  man  clad  in  homespun 
was  standing  in  the  slave-mart  of  New  Orleans,  watching 
husbands  and  wives  being  separated  forever,  and  children 
being  doomed  never  again  to  look  into  the  faces  of  their 
parents.  As  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer  fell,  this 
young  flat-boatman,  with  quivering  lips,  turned  to  his 
companion  and  said:  "If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that 
thing  (slavery),  I  will  hit  it  hard,  by  the  Eternal  God  I 
will." 

In  March,  1839,  he  had  placed  upon  the  House 
Journal  of  Illinois  a  formal  protest  against  pro-slavery 
resolutions  which  he  could  get  but  one  other  member 
beside  himself  to  sign.  Long  before  he  was  made  Presi 
dent,  in  a  speech  at  Charleston,  Illinois,  he  said:  "Yes 
we  will  speak  for  freedom,  and  against  slavery,  as  long 
as  the  Constitution  of  our  country  guarantees  free  speech, 
until  everywhere  on  this  wide  land  the  sun  shall  shine, 
and  the  rain  shall  fall,  and  the  winds  shall  blow  upon  no 
man  who  goes  forth  to  unrequited  toil." 

326 


ALEXANDER  WALTERS 

While  in  Congress  in  1848  he  offered  a  bill  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  was  his  opinion 
that  Congress  had  control  over  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories,  and  he 
evidenced  his  desire  for  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  by 
offering  a  bill  to  abolish  it  in  the  District,  and  he  after 
wards  strenuously  advocated  the  elimination  of  slavery 
from  the  territories. 

In  1864,  about  the  time  of  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  President  Lincoln  said  to  some  gentlemen 
from  the  West:  "There  have  been  men  base  enough 
to  propose  to  me  to  return  to  slavery  our  black  warriors 
of  Port  Hudson  and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the  respect 
of  the  masters  they  fought.  Should  I  do  so,  I  should  de 
serve  to  be  damned  in  tune  and  eternity." 

Through  all  the  mighty  struggle  of  the  Civil  War 
when  bowed  in  sorrow,  and  when  it  was  truly  said  of  him 
"That  he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief,"  he  was  ever  heard  to  say,  "It  is  my  desire  that  all 
men  be  free," 

If  President  Lincoln  were  not  in  favor  of  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves,  why  did  he  write  the  Emancipation  Proc 
lamation  without  the  knowledge  of  his  Cabinet  and, 
when  reading  it  to  them,  informed  them  that  he  did  not 
do  so  to  have  them  make  any  changes,  but  simply  to 
apprise  them  of  its  contents?  I  answer,  because  he  saw 
the  tune  had  come,  the  opportune  time  for  which  he  had 
longed,  when  he,  as  President  of  these  United  States, 
could  free  the  slaves.  The  South  was  so  certain  that 
it  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  intention  to  liberate  the  slaves,  that, 

327 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

upon  his  election  as  President,  they  seceded  from  the 
Union.  They  felt  that  the  institution  which  they  had 
struggled  so  long  to  maintain  was  doomed. 

His  famous  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  so  diplomat 
ically  written,  shows  him  to  be  in  favor  of  the  emancipa 
tion  of  slaves.  Said  he;  "My  paramount  object  is  to 
save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery. 
If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slaves  I 
would  do  it;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves 
I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some  and 
leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  I  shall  try 
to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors,  and  I  shall 
adopt  new  views  as  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true 
views.  I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my 
views  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification  of 
my  oft-expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men  everywhere 
could  be  free." 

Had  President  Lincoln  not  desired  the  freedom  of 
the  slaves  would  he  have  written  this  last  sentence? 

Professor  Pickens,  of  Talladega  College,  says:  "He 
was  a  patriot  statesman;  although  he  abhored  slavery 
in  his  own  inclination,  he  was  wise  enough  to  see  that 
the  question  of  slavery  was  subordinate  to  the  immediate 
object  of  saving  the  Union.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong, 
nothing  is  wrong;  he  declared  as  his  private  opinion;  but  it 
was  his  public  duty  and  his  oath  to  save  the  Union,  re 
gardless  of  slavery.  His  logic  and  clear  seizure  of  the 
main  point  stood  him  in  good  stead  against  the  over- 
zealous  Abolitionists  on  the  one  hand,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  as  soon  as  the  interests  of  Negro  freedom  and  the 

328 


ALEXANDER  WALTERS 

interests  of  the  Union  coincided,  the  same  unchanged 
and  consistent  logic  answered  those  who  assailed  him  on 
constitutional  grounds . ' ' 

Mr.  Lincoln  believed  that  the  Constitution  protected 
slavery  in  the  States  wherein  it  existed,  and  his  aim  was 
to  let  it  alone  where  it  had  a  constitutional  right  to  exist. 
Not  because  he  thought  slavery  right,  but  because  of 
his  respect  for  the  law. 

His  original  position  was  that,  since  slavery  was 
protected  by  the  law,  the  friends  of  freedom  would  have 
to  abide  their  time  and  continue  to  create  sentiment 
sufficient  to  change  the  law  and  thus  overthrow  the  in 
iquitous  institution.  This  is  the  only  interpretation  that 
can  be  put  upon  his  doctrine.  ' '  The  house  divided  against 
itself." 

Is  it  reasonable  to  think  that  a  man  so  thoughtful 
and  sincere  as  was  Mr.  Lincoln  could  give  a  life  to  the 
advocacy  of  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  and  in  his  heart 
not  be  in  favor  of  their  liberation.  Mr.  Lincoln  often 
expressed  ideas  on  the  emancipation  calculated  to  jeop 
ardize  his  political  future,  which  he  would  not  have  done 
but  for  the  fact  that  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  was  com 
mitted  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 

The  slaves  hailed  him  as  their  savior,  which  he  proved 
to  be  by  emancipating  4,000,000  of  them,  and  he  will  be 
held  in  loving  remembrance  by  Afro-Americans  as  long 
as  the  world  shall  stand. 

It  is  fitting  that  we  assemble  ourselves  together  on 
the  anniversary  of  his  birth  to  honor  his  memory,  and  tell 
of  his  noble  deeds  to  the  rising  generation. 

329 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

President  Lincoln  was  truly  a  great  man;  a  giant  in 
intellect,  a  peerless  diplomat,  a  fearless  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  humanity  and  a  wise  ruler.  In  council  he 
stood  head  and  shoulders  above  the  members  of  his  Cab 
inet  and  other  advisers,  notwithstanding  he  was  sur 
rounded  by  some  of  the  greatest  scholars  and  statesmen 
of  his  time. 

Allow  me  to  apply  to  Lincoln  the  words  of  Wendell 
Phillips  hi  his  address  "Touissant  L'Ouverture " : 

"Lincoln  was  greater  than  Caesar;  Caesar  fought  to 
further  his  ambition  and  to  extend  a  great  empire 
Lincoln  was  an  advocate  of  principle,  justice,  and  fair 
play.  He  was  greater  than  Alexander;  Alexander  fought 
for  glory — to  conquer  all  the  world,  all  at  the  sacrifice  of 
happy  homes  and  the  desolation  and  ruin  of  countries. 
Lincoln  sacrificed  comfort  and  ease  to  save  a  nation  and 
liberate  an  enslaved  people.  He  was  greater  than 
Napoleon;  Napoleon  made  wives  to  be  widows,  and  chil- 
ren  to  be  fatherless  and  homeless,  and  drenched  Europe 
and  Egypt  in  blood  for  fame  and  the  desire  to  found 
a  greater  empire  than  the  Roman  dynasty;  but  Lincoln 
perished  because  he  dared  to  defend  an  oppressed  people." 

When  the  last  scarred  veteran  shall  gather  around 
the  last  campfire  and  shall  rehearse  stories  of  valor, 
he  will  close  his  tale  of  sorrow  with  the  name  of  Lincoln. 

When  the  last  poet  shall  compose  his  last  poem  on 
America's  greatest  struggle, — yea  of  the  victories  of 
Vicksburg,  Fort  Donaldson,  Lookout  Mountain,  Gettys 
burg,  Appomattox,  Petersburg,  and  the  fall  of  Richmond, 

330 


ALEXANDER  WALTERS 

he  will  close  it  by  paying  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
the  sainted  Lincoln. 

When  the  last  statesman  of  the  world  shall  pronounce 
a  farewell  anathema  upon  the  world's  oppression,  when 
he  shall  write  the  names  of  those  foremost  in  the  work 
of  emancipation,  after  he  shall  have  written  the  name  of 
Moses, — long  ere  he  reaches  the  name  of  Wilberforce 
or  Clarkson,  he  shall  have  written  high  on  the  scroll 
of  fame  the  name  of  Lincoln. 

When  the  last  flag  bearing  the  "Stars  and  Stripes" 
shall  wave  over  this  great  commonwealth,  telling  of 
its  glory  and  tremendous  influence,  on  the  wings  of  the 
eagle  upon  the  staff  of  that  flag  will  be  written  for  her 
to  bear  away  on  the  eternal  breezes  the  name  of  the  im 
mortal  Lincoln, — the  savior  of  his  country,  the  Emanci 
pator  of  its  people. 

***** 

The  dying  legacy  bequeathed  to  the  American  nation 
by  the  martyred  Lincoln  was  a  united  country  and  a  free 
people.  It  gave  us  a  nation  which  to-day  stands  first  in 
the  galaxy  of  the  nations  of  the  world — in  character, 
thought,  wealth,  and  all  the  qualities  which  make  for 
the  highest  civilizations — a  glorious  country,  whose 
natural  resources  stand  unsurpassed. 

All  honor  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  nation's  Chieftain, 
the  giant  of  the  conflict,  the  statesman  of  the  age,  the 
immortal  Emancipator;  and  all  honor  to  the  men  who 
wore  the  blue,  both  white  and  black;  and  all  honor  to  the 
men  and  women  who  gave  their  sons  to  the  cause  and 
furnished  the  sinews  of  war;  and  all  praise  be  to  the 

331 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

God  of  Heaven  who  was  behind  the  conflict  controlling 
all. 

If  we  would  properly  honor  this  great  and  good  man 
we  must  finish  the  work  which  he  so  nobly  began, — 
the  lifting  up  of  the  Negro  race  to  the  highest  point  of 
civilization.  This  can  be  accomplished;  first,  by  being 
good  and  loyal  citizens  ourselves,  and  by  teaching  our 
children  to  be  the  same. 

The  groundwork  of  our  material  advancement  is  in 
dustry.  As  a  race  we  are  generally  industrious,  but  we 
need  to  become  more  skillfully  so.  Unskilled  labor 
cannot  compete  with  skilled  labor,  neither  North  or 
South.  In  the  past  you  gave  us  certain  positions  as  the 
result  of  sympathy,  not  because  we  could  perform  the 
work  as  skillfully  as  others. 

The  sentiment  which  actuated  you  to  help  us  was  a 
noble  one,  but  that  kind  of  sentiment  is  a  thing  of  the 
past;  now  we  are  required  to  stand  or  fall  according  to 
our  merits.  When  goods  are  to  be  manufactured, 
machines  constructed,  houses  and  bridges  built,  clothing 
fashioned,  or  any  sort  of  work  performed,  none  but 
skilled  workmen  are  considered;  there  are  a  great  number 
of  employers  that  care  but  little  about  the  color  of  the 
workmen;  with  them  the  question  is,  Can  he  do  the  work? 

We  must  continue  the  struggle  for  our  civil  and  polit 
ical  rights.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  class  of  lead 
ers  who  are  advising  the  Negro  to  eschew  politics  in 
deference  to  color  prejudice. 

Does  it  make  for  permanent  peace  to  deny  to  millions 
of  citizens  their  political  rights  when  they  are  eaual  to 

332 


ALEXANDER  WALTERS 

the  average  electorate  in  intelligence  and  character? 
Fitness,  and  not  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude, 
should  be  the  standard  of  recognition  in  political  matters. 
Indeed  the  Negro  should  not  be  denied  any  civil  or  polit 
ical  right  on  account  of  his  color,  and  to  the  extent  this 
is  done  there  is  bound  to  be  disquietude  in  the  nation. 

We  have  already  seen  that  temporizing  with  slavery 
at  the  formation  of  the  Union  resulted  in  a  hundred 
years  of  strife  and  bitterness,  and  finally  brought  on 
devastation  and  death.  And  may  we  not  profit  by  this 
bitter  experience?  The  enlightened  American  conscience 
will  not  tolerate  injustice  forever.  The  same  spirit  of  lib 
erty  and  fair  play  which  enveloped  the  nation  in  the  days 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  that  was  recognized  by  his  astute 
mind,  clear  to  his  mental  vision  and  so  profoundly  ap 
preciated  by  his  keen  sense  of  justice  and  which  he  had  the 
courage  to  foster  against  all  opposition  is  abroad  in  our 
land  to-day,  will  ultimately  triumph. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  first  to  suggest  to  his  party  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  Negro.  He  wrote  Governor 
Hahn,  of  Louisiana,  advising  that  the  ballot  should  be 
given  to  the  colored  man;  said  he,  "Let  in,  as  for  instance, 
the  very  intelligent  and  especially  those  who  have  fought 
gallantly  in  our  ranks.  They  would  probably  help  in 
some  trying  time  in  the  future  to  keep  the  jewel  of  liberty 
in  the  family  of  freedom." 

It  seems  to  me  right  and  proper  on  this  memorable 
day,  when  the  nation  has  stopped  to  consider  the  work  of 
the  man  above  all  others  who  started  the  Negro  on  his 
upward  way,  that  we  should  appeal  to  the  enlightened 

333 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

conscience  of  the  nation,  to  unloose  further  the  fetters 
which  bind  the  black  man,  especially  the  industrial 
bands  placed  upon  him  in  the  North.  I  appeal  to  the 
white  people  of  the  South,  the  sentiment-makers  of  that 
section,  to  create  sentiment  in  favor  of  law  and  order, 
and  that  they  demand  a  cessation  of  lynchings.  I  appeal 
to  the  legislature  of  the  South  to  allow  the  civil  and 
political  door  of  hope  to  remain  open  to  my  people,  and 
in  all  things  which  make  for  quietness  and  permanent 
peace,  let  us  be  brethren. 

The  Negro  should  no  longer  be  considered  a  serf, 
but  a  citizen  of  this  glorious  Republic  which  both  white 
and  black  alike  have  done  so  much  to  develop. 

Mr.  Edwin  D.  Mead,  in  the  New  York  Independent  of 
January  21,  1909,  says,  "Has  the  country  been  faithful 
to  Lincoln's  memory  and  task?  Has  the  evolution  of 
emancipation  been  pushed  with  proper  persistence  and 
earnestness?  Are  we  ceasing  our  discrimination  against 
men  because  they  are  black?  It  is  not  a  question  put 
by  North  to  South.  It  is  a  question  put  to  Springfield, 
Illinois,  the  old  home  of  Lincoln  himself,  as  directly  as  to 
men  in  Maryland  busy  with  their  pitiful  disfranchising 
chicanery."  To  the  still  lingering  cry  of  "black  men  down" 
this  salutary  Commemoration  rings  back,  the  "all 
men  up,"  whose  echoes  after  forty  years  were  growing 
faint  in  too  many  American  hearts. 

Had  they  not  grown  faint  in  many,  the  recent  words 
of  Justice  Harlan,  so  like  Lincoln's  own,  upon  the  Berea 
College  decision  confirming  the  Kentucky  law  that,  how- 

334 


ALEXANDER  WALTERS 

ever,  they  themselves  desired  it,  and  even  in  private 
institutions,  a  black  boy  and  a  white  boy  may  not  study 
together  the  rule  of  three  or  the  law  of  gravitation,  the 
Golden  Rule,  or  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, — 
would  have  aroused  a  vastly  profounder  and  louder  re 
sponse. 

"If  the  views  of  the  highest  court  of  Kentucky  be 
sound,  that  commonwealth  may,  without  infringing  on 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  forbid  the  associa 
tion  in  the  same  private  school  of  pupils  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Latin  races  respectively,  or  pupils  of  Christian 
and  Jewish  faith  respectively.  Have  we  become  so 
inoculated  with  prejudice  of  race  that  any  American 
government  professedly  based  on  the  principles  of  free 
dom  and  charged  with  the  protection  of  all  citizens  alike 
can  make  distinctions  between  such  citizens  in  the  manner 
of  their  voluntary  meeting  for  innocent  purposes,  simply 
because  of  their  respective  races?  If  the  court  be  right, 
then  the  State  may  make  it  a  crime  for  white  and  colored 
persons  to  frequent  the  same  market-places  at  the  same 
time  or  to  appear  in  an  assemblage  of  citizens  convened 
to  consider  questions  of  a  public  or  political  nature,  in 
which  all  citizens  without  regard  to  race  are  equally 
interested;  and  other  illustrations  would  show  the  mis 
chievous,  not  to  say  cruel,  character  of  the  statute  in 
question,  and  how  inconsistent  such  legislation  is  with  the 
principle  of  the  equality  of  citizens  before  the  law." 

Mr.  Mead  further  says  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
called  upon  to  make  his  memorable  and  mighty  protest 

335 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

with  reference  to  a  single  race.    In  our  time  the  problem 
becomes  vastly  more  complex  and  pressing., 

But,  however  complex,  there  is  but  one  way  of  solving 
it — the  simple,  Christian,  fraternal  way.  It  is  well  for 
us  that  the  Lincoln  centennial  comes  to  say  this  to  us 
persuasively  and  commandingly. 


336 


ADDRESS  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  PRE 
SENTATION  OF  A  LOVING  CUP  TO  HON. 
JOSEPH  BENSON  FORAKER,  UNITED  STATES 
SENATOR* 

BY  HON.  ARCHIBALD  H.  GRIMKE 

The  Honorable  Joseph  Benson  Foraker,  and  Colored 
Citizens: 

A  little  more  than  two  years  ago  the  country  was 
startled  one  November  morning  by  a  Presidential  order 
for  which  there  is  no  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  gov 
ernment.  It  was  an  act  not  only  without  precedent,  but, 
as  it  appeared  at  the  time  to  many  Americans  and  as  it 
appears  to  them  now  for  that  matter,  not  warranted 
either  by  law  or  justice.  The  punishment  which  that 
order  inflicted  on  a  whole  battalion  of  American  soldiers, 
without  trial  of  any  kind  seemed  unmerited  and  cruel  in 
the  highest  degree,  and  a  wanton  abuse  of  executive 
power. 

The  history  of  this  case  is  known  of  all  men,  thanks 
and  yet  again  thanks  and  love  without  limit  to  the  illus 
trious  man  whom  we  have  met  to  honor  to-night.  For  it 
is  now  and  it  must  forever  remain  the  history  of  the 

*  Delivered,  in  appreciation  of  his  service  on  behalf  of  the  members  of 
Companies  A,  B  and  C,  2Sth  Infantry,  March  6th,  1909,  at  Metropolitan  A.  M. 
E.  Church,  Washington,  D.  C. 

337 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Black  Battalion  and  of  Senator  Foraker.  It  is  the  history 
of  the  most  masterly  and  heroic  struggle  in  defense  of  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  individual  citizen  against  exec 
utive  usurpation  and  oppression  which  this  country  has 
witnessed  for  a  generation. 

The  act  of  the  President,  while  it  affected  the  rights  of 
all  Americans,  bore  with  peculiar  hardship,  with  crushing 
injustice,  on  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  men  of  the 
Black  Battalion  who  were  discharged  from  the  Army 
without  honor  and  on  a  mere  assumption  of  their  guilt  in 
the  "Brownsville"  affray. 

That  act  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  colored  race  of  the 
country  likewise,  and  fell  upon  them  with  cruel  surprise. 
For  they  are  people  without  many  friends  and  are  hard 
pressed  in  this  boasted  land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the 
brave.  They  are  hard  pressed  in  every  part  of  the  Repub 
lic  by  an  increasing  race  prejudice,  by  a  bitter  colorphobia 
which  forgets  that  they  are  weak,  forgets  their  claim  at 
the  hands  of  a  Christian  nation  to  just  and  equal  treat 
ment  to  the  end  that  they  may  do  and  become  as  other 
men  with  a  race  and  color  different  from  their  own. 
Blows  they  are  receiving  thick  and  fast  from  their  enemies 
whose  name  is  legion,  blows  against  their  right  to  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  in  the  South  and  in 
the  North.  We  are  accustomed  as  a  race  to  such  blows. 
Cruel  as  they  are  and  hard  to  bear,  yet  they  do  not  take 
us  by  surprise.  For  we  have  learned  by  long  and  bitter 
experience  to  look  for  them  from  a  people  who  loudly 
proclaim,  in  season  and  out,  their  belief  in  the  principles 
of  democracy  and  of  Christianity.  But  when  an  old 

338 


ARCHIBALD  GRIMKE 

friend  turns  against  us,  and  strikes  too  like  an  ancient 
enemy,  such  a  blow  is  more  grievous  to  bear,  and  seems 
crueler  than  death  itself.  The  blow  of  an  old  friend  is 
always  the  unkindest  blow  of  all.  One  is  never  prepared 
for  it,  and  when  it  falls  the  wound  which  it  inflicts  cuts 
deeper  than  flesh  and  blood,  for  the  iron  of  it  enters  the 
soul  itself.  And  so  it  happened  to  us,  when,  two  years 
ago,  the  cruel  wrong  of  that  executive  order  was  done  to 
our  brave  boys  in  blue  by  the  hand  of  a  trusted  friend, 
the  apostle  of  the  "square  deal." 

Who  can  describe  the  shock  of  that  first  terrible 
amazement,  the  hot  indignation  felt  by  a  race  at  the  huge 
injustice,  at  the  Draconian  severity  of  that  order  which 
expelled  from  the  American  Army  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  men  without  trial  of  any  kind  and  on  a  mere  suspi 
cion  of  their  guilt,  and  which  made  them  forever  ineligible 
to  employment  thereafter  in  any  department  of  the 
National  Government,  whether  on  its  civil,  military,  or 
naval  side,  and  the  deep  consternation  which  filled  the 
homes  of  every  colored  man  in  the  land — North  and 
South  alike?  I  for  one  can  not  describe  those  feelings, 
although  I  experienced  in  unison  with  the  race  at  the  time 
the  amazement,  the  indignation,  and  the  consternation 
which  swept  us  together  and  caused  us  to  feel  and  speak 
and  act  as  one  man  under  the  wrong  done  us  by  the 
hand  of  an  old  friend  whose  golden  words  of  hope  and 
fair  play  we  had  sometime  written  in  letters  of  light  on 
the  tablets  of  our  hearts.  It  is  no  slight  matter  for  any 
man,  whether  he  be  President  or  private  citizen,  so  to 
wound  the  sense  of  right  of  a  whole  race,  so  to  shock  its 

339 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

faith  in  the  justice  and  righteousness  of  its  rulers  and 
government,  as  that  cruel  blunder  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  produced  among  the  colored  people  of 
the  entire  country. 

We  lifted  up  our  voice  as  the  voice  of  many  waters 
from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other  in  loud  protest 
against  the  wrong,  in  stern  denunciation  of  it,  and  the 
press  of  the  North  came  nobly  to  our  assistance  and 
swelled  the  volume  of  our  protest  and  denunciation. 
But  alas,  all  this  volume  of  protest  and  denunciation  on 
the  part  of  the  race  and  of  the  press  would  have  passed 
over  the  nation  and  the  Government  like  a  summer  storm 
of  wind  and  rain — so  little  do  our  outcries  against  injus 
tice  and  oppression  excite  the  attention  and  sympathy  of 
the  Republic  any  more — had  there  not  arisen  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  a  man  for  the  hour,  had  not 
God  raised  him  up  to  defend  his  little  ones  against  the 
slings  and  arrows  of  a  sleepless  energy,  of  an  almost 
omnipotent  power  seated  in  the  highest  place  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  It  was  the  genius,  the  grandeur  of  soul  of  a 
great  man  who  was  able  to  gather  into  thunderbolt  after 
thunderbolt  all  the  sense  of  outraged  justice  on  the  part 
of  race  and  press,  and  to  hurl  them  with  marvelous  preci 
sion  and  overwhelming  might  against  that  cruel  executive 
order  and  the  hosts  of  words  and  messages  and  other 
hordes  of  blood-dyed  epithets  which  the  President  mar 
shalled  and  sent  forth  from  time  to  time  in  defense  of  his 
Draconian  decree.  If  there  was  sleepless  energy  in  the 
White  House,  there  was  an  energy  just  as  sleepless  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate.  The  almost  omnipotent  power 

340 


ARCHIBALD  GRIMKE 

wielded  for  the  destruction  of  the  Black  Battalion  by  the 
formidable  occupant  of  the  executive  mansion  was  met 
and  matched,  ay,  overmatched  again  and  again  by  an 
omnipotence  in  discussion  which  a  just  cause  and  genius 
as  orator,  lawyer,  and  debater  of  the  first  rank  could  alone 
have  put  into  the  strong  right  arm  of  the  brave  redresser 
of  a  race's  wrongs  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  For  more 
than  two  years  he  carried  the  case  of  the  Black  Battalion 
in  his  big  and  tireless  brain,  in  his  big  and  gentle  heart, 
as  a  mother  carries  under  her  bosom  her  unborn  babe. 
God  alone  knows  what  sums  of  money,  what  deep  thought 
and  solicitude,  what  unflagging  energy,  what  unceasing 
labor,  he  spent  in  his  holy  and  self-imposed  task  to  right 
the  wrongs  of  those  helpless  and  persecuted  men.  In  the 
Senate  their  case  pursued  him  like  a  shadow,  and  at  home 
it  sat  with  him  like  a  ghost  in  his  library,  and  slept  for  a 
few  hours  only  when  the  great  brain  slept  and  the  generous 
heart  rested  from  the  pain  which  was  torturing  it.  Sir, 
did  you  know  what  love  went  out  to  you  during  those 
tremendous  months  of  toil  and  struggle,  and  what  prayers 
from  the  grateful  hearts  of  ten  millions  of  people? 

Yes,  he  was  one  man  against  the  whole  power  of  the 
Administration  and  all  that  that  meant.  Perhaps  we  do 
not  fully  understand  what  a  colossal  power  that  was  to 
confront  and  grapple  with.  Almost  singlehanded  he  met 
that  power  and  threw  it  again  and  again  in  the  arena  of 
debate.  Every  speech  he  made  in  behalf  of  his  clients, 
whether  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  or  outside  of  that  body, 
was  as  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners  to  the  enemies  of 
the  Black  Battalion  who  had  now,  alas,  become  his 

341 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

enemies  too,  and  who  were  bent  on  the  destruction  of 
both,  the  defender  and  the  defended  alike.  But  he  did 
not  hesitate  or  quail  before  that  power  and  the  danger 
which  threatened  his  political  life.  As  the  battle  thick 
ened  and  perils  gathered  fast  about  his  head  he  fought 
the  fight  of  the  Black  Battalion  as  few  men  in  the  history 
of  the  Republic  have  ever  fought  for  the  weak,  for  a  just 
cause  against  organized  power  and  oppression  in  the  high 
places  of  the  Government.  Senator  Foraker  was  one 
man,  but  Senator  Foraker  was  a  host  in  himself.  We 
know  this,  but  the  enemies  of  the  Black  Battalion  know  it 
better  than  we  do,  for  wherever  they  appeared  on  the 
field  of  action  during  those  two  years,  whether  with  their 
sappers  and  miners  or  assaulting  columns,  there  they  found 
him  alert,  dauntless,  invincible — their  sappers  and  miners 
hoisted  with  their  own  petard,  their  assaulting  columns 
routed  and  driven  to  cover  before  the  withering,  the 
deadly  fire  from  the  flashing  cannon  of  his  facts,  his  logic, 
his  law,  and  his  eloquence.  Sir,  God  knows  that  I  would 
rather  have  fought  the  fight  which  you  fought  so  glori 
ously  than  be  a  Senator  of  the  Unite  States,  day,  than  be 
President  of  the  Republic  itself.  For  it  is  better  to  be  a 
brave  and  just  and  true  man  than  to  be  either  Senator 
or  President,  or  both. 

"Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends."  This  is  what  Senator 
Foraker  has  done  for  the  Black  Battalion  and  for  the 
principles  of  law  and  liberty  which  underlie  their  case. 
He  has  given  his  political  life,  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  all 
the  honor  and  power  which  were  his  had  he  chosen  to 

342 


ARCHIBALD  GRIMKK 

defend  the  order  of  the  President,  discharging  those  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  men  without  trial  of  any  kind 
from  the  Army  which  their  valor  had  helped  to  make 
glorious — instead  of  the  soldiers  whom  he  did  not  know  but 
whose  pitiful  case,  whose  unjust  and  cruel  punishment, 
enlisted  the  sympathy  of  his  great  heart  and  the  masterly 
labors  of  his  tireless  brain.  Yes,  I  repeat,  and  do  not  let 
it  ever  be  forgotten  by  us  as  a  race,  that  Senator  Foraker 
might  to-day  be  his  own  successor  in  the  United  States 
Senate  had  he  chosen  to  play  in  the  "Brownsville"  affair 
the  part  of  defender  of  President  Roosevelt's  wanton 
abuse  and  usurpation  of  executive  power,  instead  of 
taking  the  side  of  the  Black  Battalion  and  the  funda 
mental  principle  of  our  law  and  Constitution  that  each 
man  accused  of  crime  is  entitled  to  trial  before  he  is 
condemned  and  punished.  He  chose  the  side  of  the  weak, 
of  justice,  and  the  Constitution  in  this  great  struggle,  and 
not  that  of  power  and  the  Administration.  This  was  the 
sin  which  brought  upon  him  all  the  wrath  of  that  power 
and  of  that  Adminstration,  but  of  which  all  good  men  and 
true  absolve  and  for  which  they  honor  him,  and  for  which, 
besides,  a  grateful  race  enshrines  him  in  its  heart  of  hearts. 
For  he  preferred  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  Black  Bat 
talion  and  to  suffer  defeat  for  the  Senatorship  rather  than 
enjoy  power  and  office  as  the  price  of  his  desertion  of  the 
cause  of  those  helpless  men. 

No  man  can  give  as  much  as  Senator  Foraker  has 
given  to  a  just  cause,  give  as  generously,  as  unselfishly, 
gloriously  as  he  has  given  of  his  very  self  in  this  "Browns 
ville"  case  and  lose  that  which  is  best  striving  for  in  life. 

343 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

He  may  lose  place  in  the  Government  and  power  as  a 
political  leader.  But  what  are  these  but  the  ephemera  of 
man's  fevered  existence  and  strivings  here  below?  "What 
shadows  we  are,"  Burke  said  on  a  memorable  occasion  in 
his  contest  for  a  seat  in  Parliament,  "and  what  shadows 
we  pursue."  Office,  power,  popularity;  what  are  they 
but  shadows  of  passing  clouds  which  a  breath  blows  to  us 
and  a  breath  blows  from  us  again.  No  man  loses  any 
thing  in  reality  when  he  loses  such  fleeting,  such  shadowy 
possessions.  But  if  for  the  sake  of  them  he  loses  truth, 
justice,  goodness,  his  love  of  the  right  and  his  hatred  of 
the  wrong,  his  sympathy  for  the  oppressed,  his  passion  to 
help  God's  little  ones,  such  a  man  has  bartered  away  his 
soul,  the  immortal  part  of  him  for  a  rood  of  grass,  which 
to-day  flourisheth  and  to-morrow  withereth  and  is  cast 
into  the  oven  of  all  transitory  and  perishable  possessions. 
How  many  men  who  now  hold  seats  in  the  United 
States  Senate  or  the  House  of  Representatives  do  we  even 
know  the  names  of?  How  many  of  all  that  long  proces 
sion  of  them  who  have  been  passing  for  more  than  a 
century  though  those  halls  of  power  have  we  so  much  as 
heard  the  names  of?  They  have  filed  thiough  those 
stately  chambers  to  dusty  death  and  oblivion,  and  the 
places  which  knew  them  once  know  them  no  more  forever. 
A  few  names  only  are  remembered  among  all  the  mul 
titude  of  them,  not  because  of  the  places  they  occupied  or 
the  power  they  wielded,  but  because  while  in  those  houses 
they  chose  the  better  part — chose  not  to  busy  themselves 
with  shadows,  with  the  things  which  perish,  but  seized 
and  held  fast  to  the  eternal  verities  of  justice  and  freedom 

344 


ARCHIBALD  GRIMKE 

and  human  brotherhood.  The  vast  majority  of  them 
magnified  their  brief  authority  and  neglected  the  opportu 
nity  which  their  offices  offered  them  to  link  their  names 
and  official  lives  with  some  noble  movement  or  measure 
for  the  betterment  of  their  kind,  for  the  lifting  up  of  those 
who  were  down,  the  strengthening  of  those  who  were 
weak,  the  succor  of  those  who  were  hard  pressed  by  man's 
inhumanity  to  man. 

It  is  beautiful  to  defend  those  who  can  not  defend 
themselves,  to  lift  up  the  weak,  to  succor  those  who  are 
ready  to  perish.  It  is  heroic,  divine,  when  the  doing  so 
involves  peril  and  sacrifice  of  self.  It  is  the  essence  of  the 
Gospel  preached  and  lived  by  one  who  spoke  and  lived 
as  never  man  spoke  and  lived.  It  is  simple  and  undefiled 
Christianity.  Nothing  avails  to  make  Senator  or  Pres 
ident  or  people  Christian  but  just  this  one  thing — not 
race  or  color  or  creed,  not  learning  and  wealth  and  civil 
ization — but  kindness  to  God's  poor,  to  Christ's  little 
ones.  Did  you  feed  them  when  they  were  hungry;  did 
you  give  them  to  drink  when  they  were  thirsty;  did  you 
visit  and  comfort  them  when  they  were  in  prison?  Those 
who  do  these  things  to  the  humblest  and  the  blackest  of 
these  little  ones  of  the  Republic  have  done  them  unto  the 
divine  Master,  are  hi  truth  His  disciples;  and  those  who 
do  them  not  are  not  His  followers,  whatever  may  be  their 
profession,  but  quite  the  contrary.  They  have  no  part  or 
lot  with  Him  but  belong  to  the  evil  forces  of  the  world 
which  are  forever  opposing  the  coming  of  His  righteous 
Kingdom  on  earth  when  all  men  shall  be  brothers,  when 
the  strong  shall  everywhere  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak. 

345 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Inasmuch  as  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  Wendell  Phillips,  John  Brown,  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
did  it  to  the  least  of  His  little  ones  in  this  Republic,  they 
did  it  unto  Him.  They  are  a  goodly  company,  the  glorious 
company  of  the  elect  of  the  Republic,  its  prophets,  its 
priests,  and  its  kings,  And,  Sir,  inasmuch  as  you,  too,  did 
it  to  the  Black  Battalion  in  their  dire  need,  you  did  it 
unto  Christ,  and  you  are  now  henceforth  and  forevermore 
to  enter  into  the  supreme  joy  of  that  supreme  service  and 
sacrifice.  You  lost,  Sir,  your  seat  in  the  Senate,  it  is  true, 
but  you  have  won  an  enduring  place  in  a  race's  heart,  its 
enduring  love  and  gratitude,  and  the  plaudit  of  the  divine 
Master,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,"  uttered 
from  the  lips  of  all  good  men  and  true  the  country  over. 


346 


EQUALITY    OF    RIGHTS    FOR    ALL    CITIZENS, 
BLACK  AND  WHITE,  ALIKE* 

BY  REV.  FRANCIS  J.  GRIMKE,  D.  D. 

I  Cor.  16:13.     "Watch  ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong." 

It  has  been  my  custom  for  many  years  to  speak  during 
the  inaugural  week  on  some  phase  of  the  race  question. 
I  have  done  it  because  usually  at  such  times  there  are 
representatives  of  our  race  here  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  an  opportunity  is  thus  afforded  of  reaching 
a  larger  number  than  would  be  possible  at  any  other  time. 
Such  occasions,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be  utilized  in  the 
interest  of  the  race,  in  the  discussion  of  matters  pertaining 
to  the  race.  The  inauguration  of  a  President  is  an  event 
in  which  the  whole  nation  is  interested,  and  which  empha 
sizes  the  fact  of  citizenship,  as  perhaps  nothing  else  does, 
coming  as  it  does  after  the  election,  and  growing  out  of  it. 
On  such  occasions  it  is  well  for  us,  therefore,  especially  at 
this  juncture  of  our  history,  not  to  be  unmindful  of  our 
own  citizenship,  of  our  own  status  in  the  body  politic. 

We  have  just  been  celebrating,  all  over  the  country, 
the  centennial  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  our  great 
war  President,  and  this  inauguration  coming  so  soon 
after,  makes  it  especially  a  good  time  to  talk  about  some 

*A  discourse  delivered  in  the  Fifteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  Sunday,  March  7,  1909. 

347 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  the  questions  which  grew  out  of  the  war,  and  which 
were  settled  by  it.  And  this  is  what  I  want  to  do  this 
morning. 

Over  forty  years  ago  the  great  struggle  ended,  the 
"irrepressible  conflict"  came  to  a  close.  It  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  our  country,  and  in  the  history  of 
the  black  race  in  this  country.  Certain  great  questions, 
which  had  agitated  the  country  for  years,  were  settled, 
and  settled  for  all  time. 

***** 

It  is  now  no  longer  a  question  as  to  whether  we  are  a 
nation,  or  a  confederation  of  sovereign  and  independent 
States.  That  question  is  settled,  and  settled  once  for  all 
by  the  issue  of  the  War.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  Southern 
State  will  ever  again  attempt  to  withdraw  from  the  Union, 
or  to  act  on  the  assumption  that  it  has  the  right  to  do  so. 
Even  if  it  is  foolish  enough  to  entertain  such  a  view,  it 
will  be  sure  never  again  to  act  upon  it.  The  issue  of  the 
War  has  removed  forever  from  the  field  of  serious  discus 
sion  this  question  of  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede.  The 
ghost  of  secession  will  never  again  arise  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  Union.  The  Stars  and  Stripes,  the  old  flag, 
will  float,  as  long  as  it  floats,  over  all  these  States,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 
If  the  time  ever  comes  when  we  shall  go  to  pieces,  it  will 
not  be  from  any  desire  or  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
States  to  pull  apart,  but  from  inward  corruption,  from 
the  disregard  of  right  principles,  from  the  spirit  of  greed, 
from  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold,  from  losing  sight  of  the 
fact  that  "  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  that  sin  is 

348 


FRANCIS  J.  GRIMKE 

a  reproach  to  any  people."  It  is  here  where  our  real 
danger  lies — not  in  the  secession  of  States  from  the  Union, 
but  in  the  secession  of  the  Union  itself  from  the  great  and 
immutable  principles  of  right,  of  justice,  of  fair  play  for 
all  regardless  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude.  The  fact  that  the  Union  has  been  saved,  that 
these  rebellious  States  have  been  brought  back  into  it, 
will  amount  to  nothing  unless  it  can  be  saved  from  this 
still  greater  peril  that  threatens  it.  The  secession  of  the 
Southern  States  in  1860  was  a  small  matter  compared 
with  the  secession  of  the  Union  itself  from  the  great 
principles  enunciated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
in  the  Golden  Rule,  in  the  Ten  Commandments,  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Unless  we  hold,  and  hold  firmly 
to  these  great  fundamental  principles  of  righteousness,  of 
social,  political,  and  economic  wisdom,  our  Union,  as 
Mr.  Garrison  expressed  it,  will  be  "only  a  covenant  with 
death  and  an  agreement  with  hell."  If  it  continues  to 
exist  it  will  be  a  curse,  and  not  a  blessing. 

Our  brave  boys  in  blue,  whose  bodies  lie  moldering  in 
the  grave,  but  whose  souls  are  marching  on,  settled  the 
question  of  the  Union  of  the  States.  It  is  for  the  patriotic 
men  who  are  living  to-day,  and  those  who  are  to  follow  in 
their  footsteps,  to  deal  with  this  larger  and  more  impor 
tant  question.  It  isn't  enough  that  these  States  are  held 
together,  they  must  be  held  together  on  right  principles — 
principles  of  justice,  of  equity,  of  fair  play,  of  equality 
before  the  law  for  all  alike.  Whether  there  is  patriotism, 
political  wisdom,  moral  insight  and  stamina  enough  to 
lead  men  to  forget  their  differences  on  minor  matters  and 

349 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

to  unite  their  forces  for  the  attainment  of  this  greater  and 
more  important  end,  remains  to  be  seen.  There  are  so 
many  who  are  controlled  by  their  petty  prejudices,  whose 
views  are  so  narrow  and  contracted,  that  they  seem 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  things  of  prime  importance, 
the  things  that  are  fundamental  in  the  life  of  the  nation, 
and  upon  which  its  future  peace  and  prosperity  depend. 
The  fear  of  rebellion  is  forever  gone.  It  is  not  so,  how 
ever,  with  regard  to  the  danger  of  which  I  am  speaking — 
the  danger  of  the  nation  divorcing  itself  from  sound 
political  and  moral  principles. 

***** 

In  the  scheme  of  citizenship  of  our  country  for  years 
following  the  close  of  the  war  the  Negro  had  no  part; 
and  he  had  no  part  because  he  was  looked  upon  as  an 
inferior.  "  Subordination  to  the  superior  race  is  declared 
to  be  his  natural  and  moral  condition. "  His  inferiority 
was  asserted  to  be  a  "great  physical,  philosophical,  and 
moral  truth. " 

And  this  is  exactly  the  Southern  view  to-day;  and  is 
exactly  the  programme  to  which  it  is  committed.  Its 
whole  attitude  to-day  is  in  harmony  with  the  great  prin 
ciple  upon  which  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  founded 
— the  non-recognition  of  the  Negro  as  an  equal  in  any 
respect — socially,  civilly,  politically.  The  South  holds  to 
this  view  just  as  tenaciously  to-day  as  it  did  when  Mr. 
Stephens  made  his  Great  Cornerstone  Speech  in  1861. 
The  Ku  Klux  Klan,  the  White  Caps,  the  Red  Shirt 
Brigade,  tissue  ballots,  the  revised  constitutions  with 

350 


FRANCIS  J.  GRIMKE 

their  grandfather  clauses,  Jim  Crow  Car  legislation,  the 
persistent  effort  of  the  South  to  disfranchise  the  Negro — 
all  these  things  have  grown  out  of  the  idea  that  the  right 
ful  place  of  the  Negro  is  that  of  subordination  to  the 
white  man,  that  he  has  no  rightful  place  in  the  body 

politic. 

*    *    *    *    * 

But  I  cannot  believe  that  the  nation  is  always  going  to 
leave  its  loyal  black  citizens  to  be  despoiled  of  their  civil 
and  political  rights  by  the  men  who  sought  to  destroy 
the  Union.  A  better  day  is  coming,  and  coming  soon,  I 
trust. 

While  we  are  waiting,  however,  for  the  nation  to  come 
to  its  senses — waiting  for  a  revival  of  the  spirit  of  justice 
and  of  true  democracy  in  the  land — it  is  important  for  us 
to  remember  that  much,  very  much,  will  depend  upon 
ourselves.  In  the  passage  of  Scripture  read  in  our  hearing 
at  the  beginning  of  this  discourse,  three  things  we  are 
exhorted  to  do,  and  must  do,  if  we  are  ever  to  secure  our 
rights  in  this  land:  We  are  exhorted  to  be  watchful. 
"Watch  ye,"  is  the  exhortation.  We  are  to  be  on  our 
guard.  "  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty. "  There 
are  enemies  ever  about  us  and  are  ever  plotting  our  ruin — 
enemies  within  the  race  and  without  it.  We  have  got  to 
live  in  the  consciousness  of  this  fact.  If  we  assume  that 
all  is  well,  that  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  and  so  relax  our 
vigilance,  so  cease  to  be  watchful,  we  need  not  be  surprised 
if  our  enemies  get  the  better  of  us,  if  we  are  worsted  in  the 
conflict. 

351 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

(2)  We  are  exhorted  to  stand  fast  in  the  faith.    In  the 
faith  we  feel  that,  as,  American  citizens,  we  are  entitled 
to  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  other  citizens  of  the 
Republic.    In  this  faith  we  are  to  stand,  and  stand  fast. 
We  are  not  to  give  it  up;  we  are  not  to  allow  anyone, 
white  or  black,  friend  or  foe,  to  induce  us  to  retreat  a 
single  inch  from  this  position. 

(3)  We  are  exhorted  to  quit  ourselves  like  men,,  to  be 
strong.    And  by  this,  I  understand,  is  meant  that  we  are 
to  stand  up  in  a  manly  way  for  our  rights;  that  we  are  to 
seek  by  every  honorable  means  the  full  enjoyment  of  our 
rights.    It  is  still  true — 

"Who  would  be  free  himself  must  strike  the  blow." 

And,  if  we  are  ever  to  be  free  from  invidious  distinctions 
in  this  country,  based  upon  race,  color,  previous  condition, 
we  have  got  to  be  alive,  wide-awake  to  our  own  interest. 
If  we  are  not,  we  have  no  right  to  expect  others  to  be;  we 
have  no  right  to  expect  anything  but  failure,  but  defeat. 
And  we  deserve  defeat  if  ours  is  the  spirit  of  indifference, 
of  unconcern.  We  are  not  going  to  secure  our  rights  in 
this  land  without  a  struggle.  We  have  got  to  contend, 
and  contend  earnestly,  for  what  belongs  to  us.  Victory 
isn't  coming  in  any  other  way.  No  silent  acquiescence 
on  our  part  in  the  wrongs  from  which  we  are  suffering, 
contrary  to  law;  no  giving  of  ourselves  merely  to  the  work 
of  improving  our  condition,  materially,  intellectually 
morally,  spiritually,  however  zealously  pursued,  is  going 
to  bring  relief.  We  have  got,  in  addition  to  the  effort  we 

352 


FRANCIS  J.  GRIMKE 

are  making  to  improve  ourselves,  to  keep  up  the  agitation, 
and  keep  it  up  until  right  triumphs  and  wrong  is  put 
down.  A  programme  of  silence  on  the  part  of  the  race  is  a 
fool's  programme.  Reforms,  changes  in  public  sentiment, 
the  righting  of  wrongs,  are  never  effected  in  that  way; 
and  our  wrongs  will  never  be.  A  race  that  sits  quietly 
down  and  rests  in  sweet  content  in  the  midst  of  the  wrongs 
from  which  it  is  suffering  is  not  worth  contending  for,  is 
not  worth  saving. 

This  is  not  true  of  this  race,  however.  We  are  not 
sitting  down  in  sweet  content,  let  it  be  said  to  our  credit. 
I  thank  God  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  these  mut- 
terings  of  discontent  that  are  heard  in  all  parts  of  the 
land.  The  fact  that  we  are  dissatisfied  with  present 
conditions,  and  that  we  are  becoming  more  and  more  so, 
shows  that  we  are  growing  in  manhood,  in  self-respect,  in 
the  qualities  that  will  enable  us  to  win  out  in  the  end.  It 
is  our  duty  to  keep  up  the  agitation  for  our  rights,  not 
only  for  our  sakes,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  the  nation  at 
large.  It  would  not  only  be  against  our  own  interest  not 
to  do  so,  but  it  would  be  unpatriotic  for  us  quietly  to 
acquiesce  in  the  present  condition  of  things,  for  it  is  a 
wrong  condition  of  things.  If  justice  sleeps  in  this  land, 
let  it  not  be  because  we  have  helped  to  lull  it  to  sleep  by 
our  silence,  our  indifference;  let  it  not  be  from  lack  of 
effort  on  our  part  to  arouse  it  from  its  slumbers.  Elijah 
said  to  the  prophets  of  Baal,  while  they  were  crying  to 
their  god,  "  Peradventure  he  sleepeth."  And  it  may  be 
that  he  was  asleep;  but  it  was  not  their  fault  that  he 

353 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

continued  asleep,  for  they  kept  up  a  continual  uproar 
about  his  altar.  And  so  here,  sleeping  Justice  in  this  land 
may  go  on  slumbering,  but  let  us  see  to  it  that  it  is  due  to 
no  fault  of  ours.  Even  Baalam's  ass  cried  out  in  protest 
when  smitten  by  his  brutal  master,  and  God  gave  him  the 
power  to  cry  out,  endowed  him  miraculously  with  speech 
in  which  to  voice  his  protest. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  God  to  work  a  miracle  to  enable 
us  to  protest  against  our  wrong;  He  has  already  given  us 
the  power.  Let  us  see  t  o  it  that  we  use  it.  If  we  are  wise 
we  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  If  we  are  not 
wise,  however,  if  we  adopt  the  policy  of  silence,  and  if  we 
continue  to  feel  that  it  is  our  duty  to  follow  blindly, 
slavishly,  any  one  political  party,  we  will  receive  only 
such  treatment  as  is  accorded  to  slaves,  and  will  go  on 
pleading  for  our  rights  in  vain.  The  only  wise  course  for 
us  to  pursue  is  to  keep  on  agitating,  and  to  cast  our  votes 
where  they  will  tell  most  for  the  race.  As  to  what  party 
we  affiliate  with  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  whatever; 
the  important  thing  is  our  rights.  And  until  we  recognize 
that  fact,  and  act  upon  it,  we  will  be  the  football  of  all 
political  parties.  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  in  speaking  on  the 
race  question  years  ago,  said :  "  If  I  were  a  colored  man  I 
should  use  parties  as  I  would  a  club — to  break  down 
prejudice  against  my  people.  I  shouldn't  talk  about 
being  true  to  any  party,  except  so  far  as  that  party  was 
true  to  me.  Parties  care  nothing  for  you,  only  to  use  you. 
You  should  use  parties;  the  highest  party  you  have  in  this 
country  is  your  own  manhood.  That  is  the  thing  in 

354 


FRANCIS  J.  GRIMKE 

danger  from  all  parties;  that  is  the  thing  that  every 
colored  man  is  bound  in  duty  to  himself  and  his  children 
to  defend  and  protect."  And  that  is  good  advice.  It 
embodies  the  highest  political  wisdom  for  us  as  a  people. 
The  exhortation  of  the  text  is,  "Watch  ye,  stand  fast 
in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong."  And  this  is 
the  message  that  I  bring  to  you,  who  are  here  this  morn 
ing,  and  to  the  members  of  our  race  all  over  the  country. 
We  must  be  watchful;  we  must  hold  firmly  to  our  faith  in 
our  citizenship,  and  in  our  rights  as  citizens;  and  we  must 
act  the  part  of  men  in  the  maintenance  of  those  rights. 
In  the  end  the  victory  is  sure  to  be  ours.  The  right  is 
bound,  sooner  or  later,  to  triumph. 

"  Before  the  monstrous  wrong  he  sits  him  down — 
One  man  against  a  stone-walled  city  of  sin. 
For  centuries  those  walls  have  been  a-building; 
Smooth  porphyry,  they  slope  and  coldly  glass 
The  flying  storm  and  wheeling  sun. 

"No  chinks,  no  crevice,  lets  the  thinnest  arrow  in. 
He  fights  alone,  and  from  the  cloudy  ramparts 
A  thousand  evil  faces  gibe  and  jeer  him. 
Let  him  lie  down  and  die;  what  is  the  right 
And  where  is  justice  in  a  world  like  this? 

"But  by  and  by  earth  shakes  herself,  impatient; 
And  down,  in  one  great  roar  of  ruin,  crash 
Watch-tower  and  citadel  and  battlements. 
When  the  red  dust  has  cleared,  the  lonely  soldier 
Stands  with  strange  thoughts  beneath  the  friendly  stars." 
355 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

And  so,  in  the  end,  will  it  be  with  this  great  evil  of  race 
prejudice  against  which  we  are  contending  in  this  country, 
if,  like  the  lonely  soldier,  we  show  the  same  earnestness, 
the  same  patient  determination,  the  same  invincible 
courage.  A  better  day  is  coming;  but  we  have  got  to 
help  to  bring  it  about.  It  isn't  coming  independently 
of  our  efforts,  and  it  isn't  coming  by  quietly,  timidly, 
cowardly  acquiescing  in  our  wrongs. 


356 


IS  THE  GAME  WORTH  THE  CANDLE?* 

BY  DR.  JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 

Founder  and  President  of  the  National  Religious  Training  School  at 
Durham,  N.  C. 

Students  and  Friends: 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  vast  opportunity  that  is 
mine  as  I  stand  before  young  men.  The  opportunity  is 
great,  but  the  responsibility  is  greater.  It  was  the 
thought  of  the  responsibility  that  decided  me  to  speak 
on  the  subject,  "Is  the  Game  Worth  the  Candle?";  the 
meaning  simplified  being — Is  the  object  pursued  worth 
the  price  paid  for  its  attainment. 

Once  during  an  all-night  ride  en  route  for  Arkansas 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  just  closed,  I  fell  into  a 
retrospective  mood,  and  the  scroll  of  the  past  years 
unfolded  itself  before  my  memory,  and  as  I  reviewed  it 
and  marked  the  possibilities  which  had  passed  with  the 
years,  life  took  on  even  a  greater  aspect  than  it  had 
already  possessed.  I  shall  not  discuss  my  Mfe,  but  life 
with  its  probabilities  and  possibilities  of  power  and 
achievement;  life  in  its  earnestness  and  life  that  is 
merely  drifting  with  the  tide,  of  no  benefit  to  itself  or  to 
humanity. 

*An  address  delivered  before  the  young  men  of  the  National  Religious 
Training  School,  Durham,  N.  C. 

357 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

A  man's  life  depends  upon  his  emotions,  his  aspir 
ations,  his  determinations. 

A  young  man,  somebody's  son,  starts  out  with  the  de 
termination  that  the  world  is  indebted  to  him  for  a  good 
time.  "Dollars  were  made  to  spend.  I  am  young, 
and  every  man  must  sow  his  wild  oats  and  then  settle 
down.  I  want  to  be  a 'hail  fellow  well  met'  with  every  one." 
So  he  is  ever  ready  to  drink  a  social  glass,  to  give  a  pun 
and  to  be  a  "masher  on  the  girls."  With  this  determin 
ation  uppermost  in  his  life  purpose  he  starts  out  to 
be  a  good-timer.  Perhaps  some  mother  expects  to  hear 
great  things  of  her  boy,  some  father's  hopes  are  centered 
in  him,  but  what  does  that  matter?  "  I  am  a  good-timer." 
From  one  gayety  to  another,  from  one  glass  to  another, 
from  one  sin  to  another,  and  the  good-timer  at  last  is 
broken  in  health,  deserted  by  friends,  and  left  alone  to 
die.  Thus  the  "man  about  town"  passes  off  the  stage. 
When  you  ask  some  of  his  friends  about  him,  the  answer 
is,  "Oh,  John  was  all  right,  but  he  lived  too  fast.  I  like 
good  tune  as  well  as  anyone,  but  I  could  not  keep  up  with 
John."  Was  the  game  worth  the  candle? 

Two  pictures  come  before  my  mind;  two  cousins, 
both  of  them  young  men.  One  started  out  early  in  life 
with  the  determination  of  getting  along  "easy,"  shirking 
work,  and  looking  for  a  soft  snap.  His  motto  was,  "The 
world  owes  me  a  living,  and  I  am  going  to  get  mine." 
He  was  employed  first  by  one  firm  and  then  by  another;  if 
anything  that  he  considered  hard  came  along,  he  would 
pay  another  fellow  to  do  the  work  and  he  "took  things 
easy."  It  was  not  long  before  no  one  would  hire  him. 

358 


JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 

He  continued  to  hold  the  idea  that  the  world  was  indebted 
to  him  and  furthermore,  he  arrogated  a  belief  that  what 
another  man  had  accumulated  he  could  borrow  without 
his  knowledge.  He  forged  another's  name,  was  detected, 
and  sentenced  to  the  penetentiary  and  is  now  wearing  the 
badge  of  felony  and  shame — the  convicts'  stripes. 
Young  men,  the  world  owes  no  man  a  living,  but  those 
who  work  faithfully  and  make  contributions  to  the  hap 
piness  of  mankind  and  the  advancement  of  civilization. 
These  will  ever  be  honored  and  rewarded.  Is  the  game 
worth  the  candle? 

The  other  cousin  started  out  with  a  determination 
altogether  different.  He  believed  with  Lord  Brougham, 
that  if  he  were  a  bootblack,  he  would  strive  to  be  the 
best  bootblack  in  England.  He  began  in  a  store  as  a 
window-washer,  and  washed  windows  so  well  that  they 
sparkled  like  diamonds  under  the  sun.  As  a  clerk,  no 
customer  was  too  insignificant  to  be  greeted  with  a  smile 
or  pleasant  word;  no  task  was  too  great  for  him  to  attempt. 
Thus  step  by  step,  he  advanced,  each  day  bringing  new 
duties  and  difficulties  but  each  day  also  bringing  new 
strength  and  determination  to  master  them,  and  to-day 
that  cousin  is  a  man  of  wealth  and  an  honored  citizen, 
blessed  too,  with  a  happy  home. 

Some  young  men  start  life  with  the  idea  that  every 
dollar  made  requires  that  one  dollar  and  a  half  shall  be 
spent;  in  order  to  be  noticed  they  must  make  a  big  show, 
give  big  dinners,  carriage  drives,  and  parties,  invite 
friends  to  the  theatres,  and  have  a  "swell"  time;  must 
do  like  Mr.  "So-and-So."  They  forget  in  their  desire  to 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

copy,  that  Mr.  "  So-and-so,"  their  pattern,  has  already 
made  his  fortune;  that  he  began  to  save  before  he  began 
to  spend.  But  no,  his  name  appears  often  in  the  papers 
and  they  think  also  that  theirs  must.  So  they  begin 
their  careers.  A  few  years  pass.  The  young  men  marry; 
their  debts  begin  to  accumulate  and  to  press  them, 
their  countenances  are  always  woe-begone;  where  once 
were  smiles,  now  are  frowns,  and  the  homes  are  pictures 
of  gloom  and  shadows.  The  lesson  is  plain. 

Debt  is  the  greatest  burden  that  can  be  put  upon 
a  man;  it  makes  him  afraid  to  look  honest  men  in  the 
face.  No  man  can  be  a  leader  in  the  fullest  sense  who 
is  burdened  by  a  great  debt.  If  there  is  any  young  men 
in  the  audience  who  is  spending  more  than  he  is  making  let 
him  ask  himself  the  question,  Is  the  game  worth  the 
candle? 

I  know  another  young  man  who  believed  he  could 
be  happy  by  spending  one-third  of  what  he  made  and 
saving  the  other  portion.  He  said  to  me,  "some  day  I 
want  to  marry  and  I  want  to  treat  my  wife  better,  if 
possible,  than  she  was  treated  at  home.  I  want  the 
respect  of  my  fellow  man,  I  want  to  be  a  leader,  and  I 
know  I  can  only  do  so  by  saving  a  part  of  what  I  make." 
It  was  my  good  pleasure,  a  few  weeks  ago,  to  visit  the  city 
where  this  young  man  is  practising  medicine.  He  carried 
me  over  that  town  in  an  automobile,  he  entertained  me 
in  his  $5000  home,  he  showed  me  other  property  which 
he  owned.  Ah,  my  friends,  his  indeed  was  a  happy  home. 
Life  to  him  was  blessedly  real. 

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JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 

Some  young  men  start  life  with  the  idea  that  Sunday 
school  is  a  place  for  children,  the  church  for  old  people 
and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  a  place  for  young  men  with  no 
life.  What  a  wrong  idea !  Why,  the  young  men  who  are 
alive  in  all  walks  of  life,  and  who  are  in  the  forward 
ranks,  are  found  in  these  places.  The  other  young  men 
with  distorted  views  of  life  think  that  they  must  fre 
quent  places  where  the  social  glass  is  passed.  They  do 
so;  after  a  while  it  becomes  a  necessity,  the  drink  habit 
grows  upon  them;  they  die  drunkards.  Do  you  remember 
the  story  of  Robert  Ferguson  who,  better  known  as  the 
"laureate  of  Edinburgh,"  was  the  poet  of  Scottish  city- 
life?  His  dissipations  were  great,  his  tavern  and  boon 
companions  hastening  him  on  to  a  premature  and  painful 
death.  His  reason  gave  way.  He  was  sent  to  an  asylum 
for  the  insane.  After  about  two  months'  confinement  he 
died  in  his  cell.  What  a  sad  climax  to  a  promising  career! 

Young  men,  be  masters  of  yourselves.  Dare  to  do 
the  right.  Dare  to  say  No.  Have  strong  faith  not  only 
in  yourself  but  faith  in  the  Unseen  Power,  who  holds  the 
destinies  of  all  in  His  hands.  The  world  needs  you. 

A  good  many  young  men  think  that  to  be  great 
they  must  go  into  the  broad  fields  of  politics,  waiting  for 
an  office,  waiting  on  the  changing  whims  of  men,  instead 
of  waiting  upon  self;  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up 
instead  of  turning  up  something;  going  to  the  Capital 
"because  I  helped  to  elect  someone."  "I  leave  behind 
me  a  good  job  but  I  have  been  promised  something 
better."  So  the  poor  fellow  starts  out  to  the  capital  of 
the  nation,  spends  what  little  money  he  has  saved  at 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

home,  because  he  is  going  to  get  a  job  and  make  barrels 
of  money.  The  Mecca  of  his  hopes  is  reached.  He 
finds  himself  a  little  man  at  the  great  center  of  the  nation, 
the  few  dollars  he  brings  with  him  soon  melt  away;  his 
friends  run  when  they  see  him  coming  because  he  wants 
to  borrow  a  dollar.  At  home  he  was  a  little  king,  but  at 
the  Capital  he  is  a  " would-be  statesman  seeking  a  job." 
Was  the  game  worth  the  candle? 

My  friends,  good  men  are  needed  in  politics,  men  who 
are  safe  and  tried,  men  who  will  not  yield  to  prejudice 
or  sentiment,  but  will  do  the  right  as  they  see  the  right. 
God  give  us  such  men.  Politics  for  a  helpless,  dependent 
race  will  never  prove  a  relief  or  blessing  until  we  have 
strong,  safe  leaders  who,  losing  sight  of  self  and  a  few 
self-constituted  leaders,  will  see  the  whole  people.  The 
race  will  never  come  into  its  own  until  we  have  such  a 
condition. 

A  young  man  starts  out  in  life  with  the  determination 
to  fight  his  way  by  physical  force  to  the  front  ranks. 
Bruised,  disfigured,  or  killed,  he  is  forced  back  even 
beyond  the  lines  again.  A  religiously  inclined  youth 
asked  his  pastor,  "Do  you  think  it  would  be  wrong  for 
me  to  learn  the  noble  art  of  self-defense?"  "Certainly 
not,"  replied  the  pastor,  "I  learned  it  in  youth  myself, 
and  I  have  found  it  of  great  value  in  my  life. "  "Indeed, 
sir,  did  you  learn  the  Old  English  system  or  the  Sullivan 
system?"  "Neither;  I  learned  Solomon's  system!" 
replied  the  minister.  "Yes,  you  will  find  it  laid  down 
in  the  first  verse  of  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Proverbs, 

362 


JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 

'A  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath';  it  is  the  best  system 
of  self-defense  I  know. " 

Too  many  of  us  starting  out  on  life's  journey  have  a 
warped  ambition.  This  ambition  is  a  love  of  self  in 
the  desire  that  self  might  gain  the  ascendency  over  our 
fellows,  not  that  we  might  be  of  benefit  to  humanity, 
but  that  we  aim  to  derive  personal  gain  only.  We  follow 
the  standard  of  this  or  that  man,  not  because  we  believe 
in  him  or  his  policies,  but  because  he  is  on  the  successful 
top  round  of  the  ladder  now,  so  away  with  principles, 
away  with  conscience,  away  with  right, — I  must  follow 
the  man  who  will  give  most!  A  sad  awakening  comes, 
the  idol  tumbles  or  else  turns  against  you,  and  you  are 
left  like  a  stranded  ship  on  some  vast  ocean,  alone,  amidst 
the  lashing  of  the  billows  and  the  roaring  of  the  waves. 
Remember  Cardinal  Wolsey's  experience.  You  may 
recall  these  lines, 

"Would  that  I  had  served  my  God 
With  half  the  zeal  I  served  my  king, 
He  would  not  in  mine  old  age 
Have  left  me  naked  to  my  enemies. " 

Was  the  game  worth  the  candle? 

Another  young  man  starts  life  with  a  wrong  idea 
regarding  city  and  country  life.  Born  in  the  country  he 
is  free,  his  thoughts  and  ambitions  can  feed  on  a  pure 
atmosphere,  but  he  thinks  his  conditions  and  his  sur 
roundings  are  circumscribed,  he  longs  for  the  city,  with 
its  bigness,  its  turmoil,  and  its  conflicts.  He  leaves  the 
old  homestead,  the  quiet  village,  the  country  people, 
and  hies  himself  to  the  city.  He  forgets  to  a  large  extent 

363 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  good  boy  he  used  to  be,  in  the  desire  to  keep  up 
with  the  fashions  and  to  make  the  people  forget  that  he 
was  once  a  country  boy.  City  life,  as  is  often  the  case, 
breaks  up  his  youth,  destroys  his  morals,  undermines 
his  character,  steals  his  reputation,  and  finally  leaves 
the  promising  youth  a  wrecked  man.  Was  the  game 
worth  the  candle? 

Young  men,  never  be  ashamed  of  the  old  log-cabin  in 
the  country,  or  the  old  bonnet  your  mother  used  to  wear, 
or  the  jean  pants  your  father  used  to  toil  in.  I  had 
rather  be  a  poor  country  boy  with  limited  surroundings 
and  a  pure  heart  than  to  be  a  city  man  bedecked  in  the 
latest  fashions  and  weighted  down  with  money,  having 
no  morals,  no  character.  I  had  rather  have  the  religion 
and  faith  of  my  fathers  than  to  have  the  highest  offices.  I 
had  rather  have  glorious  life,  pure  and  lofty,  than  to  have 
great  riches.  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  right  when  he  said, 

"Sound,  sound  the  clarion,  fill  the  fife, 
To  all  the  sensual  world  proclaim: 
One  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life 
Is  worth  an  age  without  a  name. " 

Young  men,  what  is  the  basis  of  your  life  and  what  is 
its  goal?  Have  you  digged  deeply  and  thrown  out  all 
the  waste  material  of  follies  and  vice  tend  built  upon  a 
substantial  foundation  of  honest  manhood  and  sterling 
character?  If  not,  you  are  a  failure.  However,  chords 
that  are  broken  may  vibrate  once  more;  take  up  the 
angled  threads  again  and  weave  another  pattern.  The 
book  that  will  always  be  the  best  and  safest  guide  for 
weaving  life's  pattern  is  the  Bible, — the  truest  and  best 

364 


JAMES  E.  SHEPAKD 

friend  any  young  man  can  have.  If  you  want  oratory, 
you  need  not  talk  about  Demosthenes  walking  along 
the  shores  of  Greece  with  pebbles  in  his  mouth,  nor 
about  that  great  American  orator,  Daniel  Webster,  but 
if  you  turn  almost  to  the  beginning  of  that  wonderful 
Book  and  listen  to  the  pleadings  of  Jacob's  sons  as  they 
begged  for  the  life  of  their  father,  it  will  surpass  your 
Demosthenes  or  Webster  in  true  eloquence.  If  you  want 
logic,  even  though  Aristotle  may  be  world  famous  as  the 
"father  of  logic,"  yet  if  you  listen  to  the  hunch-backed, 
red  faced,  crooked  nosed,  baldheaded  Jew,  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  you  will  find  his  logic  stands  unsurpassed  in  all 
the  ages  of  the  world.  The  history  of  four  thousand 
years  and  more  you  will  find  there.  You  will  discover 
the  beginnings  and  the  end  of  things.  Reason,  with  her 
flickering  torch,  cannot  point  to  any  such  sublime  truths 
as  are  found  in  the  Bible.  Philosophy  with  her  school 
stands  amazed  when  confroned  with  the  philosophy  of 
the  Bible.  Science,  itself  the  greatest  contributor  to 
the  happiness  of  man,  having  penetrated  the  arcana  of 
nature,  sunk  her  shafts  into  earth's  recesses,  measured 
the  heights  of  its  massive  pillars  to  the  very  pedestal  of 
primeval  granite,  tracked  the  tornadoes,  uncurtained 
the  distant  planets,  and  foretold  the  coming  of  the  comets 
and  the  return  of  the  eclipses,  has  never  as  yet  been  able 
to  lift  up  a  degraded  man  and  point  him  to  a  higher  path. 
I  commend  the  Bible  to  you. 

No  life  is  great  unless  that  life  is  good.  Each  day  is 
a  life,  and  that  day  is  wasted  that  is  not  filled  with  lofty 
desire,  with  actual  achievement,  that  does  not  bring  us 

365 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

nearer  to  God,  nearer  to  our  fellow-man  and  nearer  to 
the  things  God  has  created.  In  such  a  plan  of  life  will 
we  find  real  and  lasting  happiness.  God  means  every 
man  to  be  happy.  He  sends  us  no  sorrows  that  have  not 
some  recompense. 

There  are  two  old  Dutch  words  which  have  resounded 
through  the  world,  "Neen  nimmer,"  "No,  never."  The 
fleets  of  Spain  heard  it,  and  understood  it  fully,  when  they 
saw  the  sinking  Dutch  ships  with  the  flags  nailed  to  the 
shattered  mainmast,  crying  "Neen  nimmer,"  which 
indicated  that  they  would  never  surrender. 

Will  the  young  men  who  are  to  be  the  leaders,  spend 
their  hours  in  riotous  living?  No,  never!  Will  they 
be  false  to  duty?  No,  never!  Will  they  shirk?  No, 
never!  Will  they  be  disloyal  to  self,  to  home,  to  country, 
and  to  God?  No,  never! 

I  close  with  an  illustration.  Croesus  was  a  rich  man, 
a  king.  One  day  Croesus  said  to  Solon,  the  philosopher, 
"Do  you  not  think  I  am  a  happy  man? "  Solon  answered, 
"Alas,  I  do  not  know,  Croesus;  that  life  is  happy  that 
ends  well. "  A  few  years  later  when  Croesus  had  lost  his 
wealth,  his  kingdom,  and  his  health,  and  had  been  de 
serted  by  those  who  in  his  days  of  glory  ran  to  do  his 
slightest  bidding,  Croesus  in  anguish  and  misery  ex 
claimed,  "Solon,  Solon,  thou  saidst  truly  that  life  is  well 
and  happy  that  ends  well. " 


366 


SOME  ELEMENTS  NECESSARY  TO  RACE 
DEVELOPMENT* 

BY  ROBERT  RUSSA  MOTON 

Commandant  of  Cadets,  Hampton  Institute,  Virginia 

Students,  Friends: 

Among  the  most  highly  developed  races  we  observe 
certain  dominant  characteristics,  certain  very  essential 
elements  of  character,  by  which  they  have  so  influenced 
mankind  and  helped  the  world  that  they  were  enabled  to 
write  their  names  in  history  so  indelibly  as  to  withstand 
and  endure  the  test  of  time. 

Your  education,  your  observation,  your  occupation, 
have  brought  you  into  close  touch  and  into  personal  and 
vital  relations  with  the  fundamental  problems  of  life. 
We  may  call  it  the  truth  problem,  the  labor  problem,  the 
Indian  problem,  or  perhaps  the  Negro  problem.  I  like  to 
call  it  the  "Human  Race  Problem." 

The  dawn  of  history  breaks  upon  a  world  at  strife,  a 
universal  conflict  of  man  at  war  with  his  brother.  The 
very  face  of  the  earth  has  been  dyed  in  blood  and  its 
surface  whitened  with  human  bones  in  an  endeavor  to 
establish  a  harmonious  and  helpful  adjustment  between 
man  and  man.  There  can  be  no  interest  more  funda- 


*An  address  delivered  at  the  Tuskegee  Commencement,  May,  1912. 

367 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

mental  or  of  greater  concern  to  the  human  family  than 
the  proper  adjustment  of  man's  relations  to  his  brother. 

You  and  I  belong  to  an  undeveloped,  backward  race 
tha  is  rarely  for  its  own  sake  taken  into  account  in  the 
adjustment  of  man's  relation  to  man,  but  is  considered 
largely  with  reference  to  the  impression  which  it  makes 
upon  the  dominant  Anglo-Saxon.  The  Negro's  very 
existence  is  itself  somewhat  satellitious,  and  secondary 
only,  to  the  great  white  orb  around  which  he  revolves. 
If  by  chance  any  light  does  appear  in  the  black  man's 
sphere  of  operations,  it  is  usually  assumed  that  it  is 
reflected  from  his  association  with  his  white  brother. 
The  black  is  generally  projected  against  the  white  and 
usually  to  the  disadvantage  and  embarrassment  of  the 
former.  It  becomes  very  easy,  therefore,  to  see  in  our 
minds  and  hearts  what  is  so  apparent  in  our  faces,  "Dark 
ness  there  and  nothing  more. " 

But  you  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  Negro  is  a  tenth 
part  of  a  great  cosmopolitan  commonwealth;  he  is  a  part 
of  a  nation  to  which  God  has  given  many  very  intricate 
problems  to  work  out.  Who  knows  but  that  this  nation 
is  God's  great  laboratory  which  is  being  used  by  the 
Creator  to  show  the  rest  of  the  world,  what  it  does  not 
seem  thoroughly  to  understand,  that  it  is  possible  for  all 
God's  people,  even  the  two  most  extreme  types,  the  black 
and  the  white,  to  live  together  harmoniously  and  help 
fully? 

The  question  that  the  American  nation  must  face,  and 
which  the  Negro  as  a  part  of  the  nation  should  soberly 
and  dispassionately  consider,  is  the  mutual,  social,  civic, 

368 


ROBERT  RUSSA  MOTON 

and  industrial  adjustment  upon  common  ground  of  two 
races,  differing  widely  in  characteristics  ana  diverse  in 
physical  peculiarities,  but  alike  suspicious  and  alike  jeal 
ous,  and  alike  more  or  less  biased  and  prejudiced  each 
toward  the  other.  Without  doubt  the  physical  peculiar 
ities  of  the  Negro,  which  are  perhaps  the  most  superficial 
of  all  the  distinctions,  are  nevertheless  the  most  difficult 
of  adjustment.  While  I  do  not  believe  that  a  man's  color 
is  ever  a  disadvantage  to  him,  he  is  very  likely  to  find  it  an 
inconvenience  sometimes,  in  some  places. 

We  might  as  well  be  perfectly  frank  and  perfectly 
honest  with  ourselves;  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to  adjust  the 
relations  of  ten  millions  of  people  who,  while  they  may  be 
mature  in  passion  and  perhaps  in  prejudice,  are  yet  to  a 
large  extent  children  in  judgment  and  in  experience,  to  a 
race  of  people  not  only  mature  in  civilization,  but  the 
principles  of  whose  government  were  based  upon  more  or 
less  mature  judgment  and  experience  at  the  beginning  of 
this  nation;  and  when  we  take  into  also  account  the  wide 
difference  in  ethnic  types  of  the  two  races  that  are  here 
brought  together,  the  problem  becomes  one  of  the  gravest 
intricacy  that  has  ever  taxed  human  wisdom  and  human 
patience  for  solution.  This  situation  makes  it  necessary 
for  the  Negro  as  a  race  to  grasp  firmly  two  or  three  funda 
mental  elements. 

The  first  is  race  consciousness. 

The  Negro  must  play  essentially  the  primary  part  in 
the  solution  of  this  problem.  Since  his  emancipation  he 
has  conclusively  demonstrated  to  most  people  that  he 
possesses  the  same  faculties  and  susceptibilities  as  the  rest 

369 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  human  mankind;  this  is  the  greatest  victory  the  race 
has  achieved  during  its  years  of  freedom.  Having  demon 
strated  that  his  faculties  and  susceptibilities  are  capable 
of  the  highest  development,  it  must  be  true^  of  the  black 
race  as  it  has  been  true  of  other  races,  that  it  must  go 
through  the  same  process  and  work  out  the  same  problem 
in  about  the  same  way  as  other  races  have  done. 

We  can  and  we  have  profited  very  much  by  the  exam 
ples  of  progressive  races.  This  is  a  wonderful  advantage, 
and  we  have  not  been  slow  to  grasp  it.  But  we  must 
remember  that  we  are  subject  to  the  same  natural  factor 
in  the  solution  of  this  problem,  and  that  it  cannot  be 
solved  without  considering  this  factor.  The  Negro  must 
first  of  all  have  a  conscientious  pride  and  absolute  faith 
and  belief  in  himself.  He  must  not  unduly  depreciate 
race  distinctions  and  allow  himself  to  think  that,  because 
out  of  one  blood  God  created  all  nations  of  the  earth, 
brotherhood  is  already  an  accomplished  reality.  Let  us 
not  deceive  ourselves,  blighted  as  we  are  with  a  heritage 
of  moral  leprosy  from  our  past  history  and  hard  pressed 
as  we  are  in  the  economic  world  by  foreign  immigrants 
and  by  native  prejudice;  our  one  surest  haven  of  refuge  is 
in  ourselves;  our  one  safest  means  of  advance  is  our  belief 
in  and  implicit  trust  in  our  own  ability  and  worth.  No 
race  that  despises  itself,  that  laughs  at  and  ridicules  itself, 
that  wishes  to  God  it  were  anything  else  but  itself,  can 
ever  be  a  great  people.  There  is  no  power  under  heaven 
that  can  stop  the  onward  march  of  ten  millions  of  earnest, 
honest,  inspired,  God-fearing,  race-loving,  and  united 
people. 

370 


ROBERT  RUSSA  MOTON 

Secondly,  we  must  have  a  high  moral  ideal. 

With  a  strong  race  consciousness  and  reasonable 
prudence,  a  people  with  a  low,  vacillating,  and  uncertain 
moral  ideal  may,  for  a  time,  be  able  to  stem  the  tide  of 
outraged  virtue,  but  this  is  merely  transitory.  Ultimate 
destruction  and  ruin  follow  absolutely  in  the  wake  of 
moral  degeneracy;  this,  all  history  shows; — this,  experi 
ence  teaches.  God  visits  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations.  "The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  all  to 
gether." 

Not  long  ago  I  stood  in  the  city  of  Rome  amid  its 
ruined  fountains,  crumbling  walls,  falling  aqueducts, 
ancient  palaces,  and  amphitheatres,  to-day  mere  relics  of 
ancient  history.  One  is  struck  with  wonder  and  amaze 
ment  at  the  magnificent  civilization  which  that  people 
was  able  to  evolve.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that  the 
Roman  people,  who  could  so  perfect  society  in  its  organic 
and  civic  relations  and  leave  to  the  world  the  organic 
principles  which  must  always  lie  at  the  base  of  all  sub 
sequent  social  development, — it  does  not  seem  possible 
that  such  a  people  should  so  decay  as  to  leave  hardly  a 
vestige  of  its  original  stock,  and  that  such  cities  as  the 
Romans  erected  should  so  fall  as  to  leave  scarcely  one 
stone  upon  another.  Neither  does  it  seem  credible  that  a 
people  who  could  so  work  out  in  its  philosophical  aspect 
man's  relation  to  the  eternal  mystery,  and  come  as  near 
a  perfect  solution  as  is  perhaps  possible  for  the  human 
mind  to  reach,  that  a  people  who  could  give  to  the  world 
such  literature,  such  art,  such  ideals  of  physical  and  intel- 

371 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

lectual  beauty,  as  did  the  Greeks,  could  so  utterly  perish 
from  the  face  of  the  earth;  yet  this  is  the  case  not  only 
with  Rome  and  Greece,  but  with  a  score  or  more  of  nations 
which  were  once  masters  of  the  world.  The  Greeks, 
Romans,  Persians,  Egyptians,  and  even  God's  chosen 
people,  allowed  corruption  and  vice  to  so  dwarf  their 
moral  sense  that  there  was,  according  to  the  universal 
law  of  civilization,  nothing  left  for  them  but  death  and 
destruction. 

It  is  no  reproach  to  the  Negro  to  say  that  his  history 
and  environment  in  this  country  have  well-nigh  placed 
him  at  the  bottom  of  the  moral  scale.  This  must  be 
remedied,  if  the  Negro  is  ever  to  reach  his  full  status  of 
civilized  manhood  and  womanhood.  It  must  come 
through  the  united  efforts  of  the  educated  among  us. 
We  must  be  united  to  stop  the  ravages  of  disease  among 
our  people;  united  to  keep  black  boys  from  idleness,  vice, 
gambling,  and  crime;  united  to  guard  the  purity  of  black 
womanhood  and,  I  might  add,  black  manhood  also.  It 
is  not  enough  to  simply  protest  that  ninety-five  out  of 
every  hundred  Negroes  are  orderly  and  law-abiding.  The 
ninety-five  must  be  banded  together  to  restrain  and 
suppress  the  vicious  five. 

The  people  must  be  impressed  with  the  idea  that  a 
high  moral  character  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  high 
est  development  of  every  race,  white  quite  as  much  as 
black.  There  is  no  creature  so  low  and  contemptible 
as  he  who  does  not  seek  first  the  approval  of  his  own 
conscience  and  his  God;  for,  after  all,  how  poor  is  human 
recognition  when  you  and  your  God  are  aware  of  your 

372 


ROBERT  RUSSA  MOWN 

inward  integrity  of  soul!  If  the  Negro  will  keep  clean 
hands  and  a  pure  heart,  he  can  stand  up  before  all  the 
world  and  say,  "Doubtless  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  our  Father, 
though  Abraham  be  ignorant  of  us  and  Israel  acknowl 
edge  us  not. " 

Thirdly,  and  lastly,  the  Negro  needs  intelligent  industry. 

Slavery  taught  the  Negro  many  things  for  which  he 
should  be  profoundly  thankful — the  Christian  religion, 
the  English  language,  and,  in  a  measure,  civilization, 
which  in  many  aspects  may  be  crude  in  form,  but  these 
have  placed  him  a  thousand  years  ahead  of  his  African 
ancestors. 

Slavery  taught  the  Negro  to  work  by  rule  and  rote 
but  not  by  principle  and  method.  It  did  not  and,  per 
haps,  could  not  teach  him  to  love  and  respect  labor,  but 
left  him,  on  the  contrary,  with  the  idea  that  manual 
industry  was  a  thing  to  be  despised  and  gotten  rid  of,  if 
possible;  that  to  work  with  one's  hands  was  a  badge  of  in 
feriority.  A  tropical  climate  is  not  conducive  to  the 
development  of  practical  energy.  Add  to  the  Negro's 
natural  tendency  his  unfortunate  heritage  from  slavery, 
and  we  see  at  once  that  the  race  needs  especially  to  be 
rooted  and  grounded  in  the  underlying  scientific  principles 
of  concrete  things.  The  tune  when  the  world  bowed 
before  merely  abstract,  impractical  knowledge  has  well- 
nigh  passed;  the  demand  of  this  age  and  hour  is  not  so 
much  what  a  man  knows, — though  the  world  respects 
and  reveres  knowledge  and  always  will,  I  hope, — what 
the  world  wants  to  know  is  what  a  man  can  do  and  how 
well  he  can  do  it. 

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MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

We  must  not  be  misled  by  high-sounding  phrases  as  to 
the  kind  of  education  the  race  should  receive,  but  we 
should  remember  that  the  education  of  a  people  should 
be  conditioned  upon  their  capacity,  social  environment, 
and  the  probable  life  which  they  will  lead  in  the  imme 
diate  future.  We  fully  realize  that  the  ignorant  must  be 
taught,  the  poor  must  have  the  gospel,  and  the  vicious 
must  be  restrained,  but  we  also  realize  that  these  do  not 
strike  the  "bed-rock"  of  a  permanent,  lasting  citizenship. 

If  the  Negro  will  add  his  proportionate  contribution 
to  the  economic  aspect  of  the  world's  civilization,  it  must 
be  done  through  intelligent,  well-directed,  conscientious, 
skilled  industry.  Indeed,  the  feasible  forms  of  civilization 
are  nothing  but  the  concrete  actualization  of  intelligent 
thought  applied  to  what  are  sometimes  called  common 
things. 

The  primary  sources  of  wealth  are  agriculture,  mining, 
manufacturing,  and  commerce.  These  are  the  lines  along 
which  the  thoughtful  energy  of  the  black  race  must  be 
directed.  I  mean  by  agriculture,  farming — the  raising 
of  corn,  cotton,  peas,  and  potatoes,  pigs,  chickens, 
horses,  and  cows. 

Land  may  be  bought  practically  anywhere  in  the 
South  almost  at  our  own  price.  Twenty  years  hence, 
with  the  rapidly  developing  Southern  country  and  the 
strenuous  efforts  to  fill  it  up  with  foreign  immigrants,  it 
will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  us  to  buy  land. 
God  gave  the  children  of  Isreal  the  "Land  of  Canaan" 
but,  Oh,  what  a  life  and  death  struggle  they  had  to  take 
possession  of  it  and  hold  on  to  it.  God  has  given  to  the 

374 


ROBERT  RUSSA  MOTON 

Negro  here  in  this  Southern  country  two  of  the  most 
fundamental  necessities  in  his  development — land  and 
labor.  If  you  don't  possess  this  land  and  hold  this 
labor,  God  will  tell  you  as  He  has  often  told  other 
races — "to  move  on." 

The  Creator  never  meant  that  this  beautiful  land 
should  be  forever  kept  as  a  great  hunting-ground  for  the 
Indian  to  roam  in  savage  bliss,  but  he  intended  that  it 
should  be  used.  The  Indian,  having  for  scores  of  genera 
tions  failed  to  develop  this  land,  God  asked  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  to  take  possession  and  dig  out  the  treasures  of 
wheat,  corn,  cotton,  gold  and  silver,  coal  and  iron,  and 
the  poor  Indian  was  told  "to  move  on." 

The  Negro  in  Africa  sits  listlessly  in  the  sunshine  of 
barbarous  idleness  while  the  same  progressive,  indom 
itable,  persevering,  white  man  is  taking  possession;  the 
same  edict  has  gone  forth  to  the  native  African — he  is 
being  told  "to  move  on." 

The  same  God  will  tell  the  white  man  in  America  and 
in  Africa,  if  he  does  not  mete  out  absolute  justice  and 
absolute  fairness  to  his  weaker  and  less-advantaged 
brother,  black  or  red  or  brown,  if  he  cannot  do  justly  and 
love  mercy,  just  as  he  told  the  patricians  of  Rome,  he 
will  tell  the  white  man  "to  move  on. " 

Whatever  question  there  may  be  about  the  white 
man's  part  in  this  situation,  there  is  no  doubt  about  ours. 
Don't  let  us  delude  ourselves  but  keep  in  mind  the  fact 
that  the  man  who  owns  his  home  and  cultivates  his  land 
and  lives  a  decent,  self-respecting,  useful,  and  helpful 
life  is  no  problem  anywhere.  We  talk  about  the  "color 

376 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

line, "  but  you  know  and  I  know  that  the  blackest  Negro 
in  Alabama  or  Mississippi  or  Africa  or  anywhere  else  who 
puts  the  same  amount  of  skill  and  energy  into  his  farming 
gets  as  large  returns  for  his  labor  as  the  whitest  Anglo- 
Saxon.  The  earth  yields  up  her  increase  as  willingly  to 
the  skill  and  persuasions  of  the  black  as  of  the  white  hus 
bandman.  Wind,  wave,  heat,  stream,  and  electricity  are 
absolutely  blind  forces  and  see  no  race  distinction  and 
draw  no  "color  line. "  The  world's  market  does  not  care 
and  it  asks  no  question  about  the  shade  of  the  hand  that 
produces  the  commodity,  but  it  does  insist  that  it  shall  be 
up  to  the  world's  requirements. 

I  thank  God  for  the  excellent  chance  to  work  that  my 
race  had  in  this  Southern  country;  the  Negro  hi  America 
has  a  real,  good,  healthy  job,  and  I  hope  he  may  always 
keep  it.  I  am  not  particular  what  he  does  or  where 
he  does  it,  so  he  is  engaged  in  honest,  useful  work. 
Remember  always  that  building  a  house  is  quite  as 
important  as  building  a  poem;  that  the  science  of  cooking 
is  as  useful  to  humanity  as  the  science  of  music;  that  the 
thing  most  to  be  desired  is  a  harmonious  and  helpful 
adaptation  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences  to  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  humanity;  that  whether  we  labor  with 
muscle  or  with  brain,  both  need  divine  inspiration.  Let 
us  consecrate  our  brain  and  muscle  to  the  highest  and 
noblest  service,  to  God,  and  humanity. 
***** 

There  is  no  reason  why  any  Negro  should  become 
discouraged  or  morbid.  We  believe  in  God;  His  prov 
idence  is  mysterious  and  inscrutible;  but  his  ways  are 

376 


ROBERT  RUSSA  MOWN 

just  and  righteous  altogether.  Suffering  and  disappoint 
ment  have  always  found  their  place  in  divine  economy. 
It  took  four  hundred  years  of  slavery  in  Egypt  and  a 
sifting  process  of  forty  years  in  the  "Wilderness"  to 
teach  Israel  to  respect  their  race  and  to  fit  them  for 
entrance  into  the  "Promised  Land. "  The  black  man  has 
not  as  yet  thoroughly  learned  to  have  the  respect  for  his 
race  that  is  so  necessary  to  the  making  of  a  great  people. 
I  believe  the  woes  that  God  has  sent  him  are  but  the  fiery 
furnace  through  which  he  is  passing,  that  is  separating 
the  dross  from  the  pure  gold,  and  is  welding  the  Negroes 
together  as  a  great  people  for  a  great  purpose. 

There  is  every  reason  for  optimism,  hopefulness. 
The  Negro  never  had  more  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
his  neighbors,  black  and  white,  than  he  has  to-day. 
Neither  has  he  because  of  his  real  worth  deserved  that 
respect  more  than  he  does  to-day.  Could  anybody,  amid 
the  inspiration  of  these  grounds  and  buildings,  be  dis 
couraged  about  the  future  of  the  Negro?  The  race 
problem  in  this  country,  I  repeat,  is  simply  a  part  of  the 
problem  of  life.  It  is  the  adjustment  of  man's  relation 
to  his  brother,  and  this  adjustment  began  when  Cain  slew 
Abel.  Race  prejudice  is  as  much  a  fact  as  the  law  of 
gravitation,  and  it  is  as  foolish  to  ignore  the  operation  of 
one  as  of  the  other.  Mournful  complaint  and  arrogant 
criticism  are  as  useless  as  the  crying  of  a  baby  against  the 
fury  of  a  great  wind.  The  path  of  moral  progress,  remem 
ber,  has  never  taken  a  straight  line,  but  I  believe  that, 
unless  democracy  is  a  failure  and  Christianity  a  mockery, 
it  is  entirely  feasible  and  practicable  for  the  black  and 

377 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

white  races  of  America  to  develop  side  by  side,  in  peace, 
in  harmony,  and  in  mutual  helpfulness  each  toward  the 
other;  living  together  as  "brothers  in  Christ  without 
being  brothers-in-law, "  each  making  its  contributions  to 
the  wealth  and  culture  of  our  beloved  country. 

***** 

I  close  with  these  lines,  from  an  anonymous  poet,  on 
"The  Water  Lily": 

"O  star  on  the  breast  of  the  river, 

O  marvel  of  bloom  and  grace, 
Did  you  fall  straight  down  from  heaven, 

Out  of  the  sweetest  place? 
You  are  white  as  the  thought  of  the  angel, 

Your  heart  is  steeped  in  the  sun; 
Did  you  grow  in  the  golden  city, 

My  pure  and  radiant  one? 

"Nay,  nay,  I  fell  not  out  of  heaven; 

None  gave  me  my  saintly  white; 
It  slowly  grew  in  the  blackness, 

Down  in  the  dreary  night, 
From  the  ooze  of  the  silent  river 
I  won  my  glory  and  grace; 

While  souls  fall  not,  O  my  poet, 
They  rise  to  the  sweetest  place. " 


S7* 


THE  TWO  SEALS* 
BY  PROFESSOR  GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

Secretary  of  Howard  University 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Friends: 

Let  me  first  thank  the  Committee  and  you  all  for 
your  generosity  in  tendering  me  this  evidence  of  good 
wishes  and  good  will.  It  is  stated  in  your  invitation, 
"In  honor  of  George  William  Cook,  Secretary  of  Howard 
University" — a  double  compliment,  at  once  personal  and 
official.  Surely  it  is  an  honor  to  find  so  many  men  of 
varied  occupations  and  duties  turning  aside  to  spend 
time  and  money  to  express  appreciation  of  one's  charac 
ter.  Dull  indeed  must  the  creature  be  who  cannot  find 
gratitude  enough  to  return  thanks;  for  grateful  minds 
always  return  thanks.  To  be  direct  I  deeply  feel  the 
personal  and  non-official  side  of  the  compliment  you  pay 
me,  but  will  you  pardon  me,  gentlemen,  if  I  confess  that 
to  compliment  me  as  Secretary  of  Howard  University 
touches  me  in  a  tender  and  vulnerable  spot.  "I  love  old 
Howard,"  and  always  have  been  and  am  now  anxious 
to  be  in  the  team  to  tug  at  the  administrative  phase  of 
Howard's  movements.  Accept  then,  my  sincere  thanks. 

Now  let  us  then  turn  aside  in  sweet  communion  as 
brothers  to  talk  about  our  alma  mater.  Let  us  trace  her 


*An  address  delivered  at  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor,  May  ax,  1912. 

270 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

from  foundation  to  present  eminence;  re-affirm  our 
family  pledges  and  form  resolutions  new.  Howard  men 
will  spring  up  with  both  money  and  spirit,  not  far  in  the 
future,  when  the  mother's  cry  in  want  will  be  met  with 
a  generous  hand  from  her  sons  and  daughters.  A  little 
more  time  for  preparation  and  accumulation;  then  will 
be  the  time  when  endowment  will  precede  request  for 
preferment.  When  black  philanthropists  can  turn  desert 
spots  into  oases  of  learning  and  build  halls  of  culture, 
then  will  Howard  be  reaping  the  reward  in  her  own 
harvest  and  justify  her  being  in  the  great  family  of 
Universities. 

Though  I  wax  warm  in  sentiment,  I  crave  your  indul 
gence  but  for  a  short  while,  for  I  pledge  you  my  honor, 
and  I  say  it  seriously,  that  there  is  an  affection  under 
lying  my  words  that  makes  Howard  but  second  in  love  to 
my  wife  and  child.  She  has  been  a  gracious  mother  to 
me,  supplying  my  necessities  and  defending  me  in  my 
adversities,  for  which  I  have  ever  sought  with  might  and 
main  to  return  loyalty  and  service.  When  I  am  referred 
to  as  a  Howard  man,  I  have  an  uplift  in  the  consciousness 
of  relationship  and  fealty  to  an  institution  which  to  honor 
is  but  to  be  honored. 

Visible  manifestations  of  thought  and  idea  have  ever 
marked  the  purposes  of  man.  Monuments  and  cities 
but  express  precurrent  mental  objects.  God,  in  His 
message  to  Moses,  directed  that  a  tabernacle  be  built 
and  that  it  should  be  the  sign  of  his  pleasure  and  appro 
bation,  a  veritable  indwelling  of  the  spirit  of  God.  Living 
thought  can  be  said  to  have  habitation.  Greek  and 

380 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

Roman  art,  Egyptian  architecture,  Catholic  grandeur, 
or  Quaker  simplicity,  all  speak  some  great  and  noble 
soul-moving  and  world-moving  power.  Within  the  tem 
ple  area  was  centered  the  devotion  of  the  Jew,  both  politi 
cal  and  religious.  The  Hebrew  theocratic  system  of 
government  made  it  so.  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  no  more 
nor  less  than  St.  Paul's  at  London,  speaks  of  God  and  the 
mission  of  His  son.  The  Mosque  of  Omar,  Saint  Sophia 
at  Constantinople,  point  that  Allah  is  God  and  Mo 
hammed  is  His  Prophet;  the  Taj-Mahal  is  at  once  the 
emblem  and  creation  of  love;  the  Sistine  Chapel  teaches 
the  glories  and  joys  of  maternity  and  God  incarnate  in 
man.  The  Pan-American  Building  at  Washington,  the 
Carnegie  Peace  Building  at  The  Hague,  teach  unity  of 
mankind,  and  but  heighten  the  angelic  chorus  of  "Peace 
and  good  will  to  men." 

From  yon  Virginia  hill,  a  galaxy  of  institutions  may 
be  discerned,  bringing  lessons  to  a  listening  world.  As 
one  may  stand  on  Arlington's  sacred  heights,  looking 
about  him,  he  will  find  the  indices  in  the  graves  and  monu 
ments  there  of  sacrifice  for  a  national  union  "indissoluble 
and  forever";  and  as  his  eyes  sweep  the  horizon,  scanning 
through  mist  and  sunshine,  the  emblem  and  insignia 
of  thought  and  policy  will  block  the  view.  He  will  see 
the  gold-tipped  dome  of  the  Library  of  Congress  glinting 
in  the  light,  and  know  its  scintillations  but  herald  the 
purpose  to  keep  the  light  of  learning  and  knowledge 
bright.  Yon  stately  Capitol  dome  interrupts  his  line 
of  vision  but  to  remind  him  that  it  covers  the  chancel  of 
legislation,  and  that  representative  government  is  a  fixed 

381 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  permanent  fact.  That  single  towering  shaft  on  yon 
Potomac  bed  speaks  of  individual  and  unselfish  devotion 
to  a  nation — Washingtonian  patriotism,  unique  in  his 
tory — and  at  the  same  tune  reflects  the  appreciation  of  a 
grateful  and  worshipful  people.  Hast  thou  seen  it  in  its 
lonely  grandeur  on  a  moonlight  night?  It  is  well  worth 
a  trip  across  the  ocean  to  read  its  message.  Sweeping 
westward,  the  eye  sees  planted  on  a  hill-top  Georgetown 
College,  the  outward  symbol  of  tenet  and  propaganda. 
Raising  the  visual  angle  and  dropping  back  to  the  north 
west,  the  white  marble  walls  of  the  American  University 
come  to  view,  planted  that  Methodism  with  justification 
by  faith  might  preach  the  Gospel  for  the  redemption  of 
man.  Turning  to  the  northeast,  the  great  Catholic 
University  presents  itself  as  a  repository  and,  at  the  same 
time,  a  vehicle  of  Catholic  love  of  learning;  and  in  jux 
taposition  towers  high  in  alabastine  whiteness  the  Spanish 
architecture  of  the  Soldiers  Home;  though  standing  mute 
in  immaculate  marble,  expressing  to  the  defenders  of  a 
country  an  appreciation  of  their  patriotism  and  sacrifice; 
the  ensemble  preaching  to  an  active  world.  Then,  the 
line  of  vision  is  obtruded  upon  by  the  stately  main 
building  of  Howard  University,  of  her  structures  the 
noblest.  Observed  from  the  high  palisades  or  the  low 
bed  of  the  Potomac,  that  ever-present  object  of  view 
from  any  point  of  the  District  is  veritably  "a  city  on  a 
hill  that  cannot  be  hid," — symbolic  and  typical  of  her 
mission.  And  then  the  inquiry  comes  as  to  her  signifi 
cance.  Why  standeth  thou  there  absorbing  space? 

Vying  in  sunshine  and  moonshine  with  the  Capitol 

382 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

in  conspicuous  aspect,  the  two  stand  as  twin  sentinels 
on  opposite  ramparts  of  the  Potomac  Valley,  overlooking 
in  midnight  vigil  the  slumbering  city,  each  challenging 
the  attention  of  the  wayfarer.  What  art  thou  to  justify 
thyself  to  man?  What  mission  hast  thou  to  excuse  thy 
being?  What  road  of  profit?  What  principle  of  uplift 
hast  thou  to  send  forth?  Thy  halls  resound  to  the  mur 
mur  of  what  message  from  the  Divine?  What,  we  ask, 
is  thy  mission?  The  answer  is  echoed  from  the  archives: 
" Consult  her  founders;  learn  of  them  if  thou  wouldst 
know."  Therefore,  friends,  we  turn  to  the  records  of 
Howard  University  and  the  declaration  of  her  founders — 
her  founders,  men  fresh  from  the  fortunes  of  war,  battle- 
scarred  and  blood-stained,  desiring  further  to  perpetuate 
the  object  of  their  militant  victories  by  the  forces  of 
peace  and  brotherhood;  men  who  failed  to  die  at  Gettys 
burg,  Chancellorsville,  and  Lookout  Mountain,  and  con 
tinued  the  fight  on  this  hill;  men  who,  not  satisfied  with 
loosening  the  shackles  of  bondage,  turned  their  powers  to 
driving  darkness  from  human  souls,  though  encased  in 
ebony;  men  who  wrought  under  God's  hand,  and  dying 
dissatisfied  that  the  full  fruition  of  their  labors  were  not 
yet  come  to  pass,  leaving  to  survivors  and  posterity  an 
unmistaken  task  and  warfare. 

Howard  has  had  two  seals.  The  first  reading  "Equal 
rights  and  knowledge  for  all";  the  second,  "For  God  and 
the  Republic";  the  former  breathing  the  spirit  of  the 
Civil  War  period  and  the  Pauline  doctrine  declared  before 
the  Areopagus,  announced  in  the  preaching  and  work  of 
Christ  and  emphasized  by  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 

383 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ence;  the  latter  pregnant  with  reverence,  piety,  and 
patriotism;  the  twain  compassing  man's  duty  higher 
than  which  human  conception  is  lost.  Privileged  indeed 
is  one  to  live  under  the  aegis  of  such  twin  declarations. 
Fortunate  indeed  to  have  the  authorization  of  official 
acts  blessed  by  the  benediction  of  such  battle-cries. 

The  preamble  to  the  charter  explains  comprehen 
sively,  though  not  in  detail,  the  great  purpose  of  Howard 
University: 

"Section  i.  That  there  be  established,  and  is  hereby 
established  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  university  for 
the  education  of  youth  in  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences, 
under  the  name,  seal,  and  title  of  Howard  University," 
stated  as  simple  and  plain  as  the  decalogue  itself. 

I  glean  from  the  Fourth  Annual  Report  on  Schools  for 
Freedmen  for  July  i,  1867,  by  J.  W.  Alvord,  then  General 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  Bureau  for  Refugees  and 
Abandoned  Lands,  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  first  cata 
logue  of  Howard  University,  and,  if  you  will  bear  with 
me,  I  will  read  the  entire  catalogue. 

"Howard  University.  A  charter  has  been  granted  by 
Congress  for  the  Howard  University,  which  is  to  be  open 
to  all  of  both  sexes  without  discrimination  of  color.  This 
institution  bids  fair  to  do  great  good.  Its  beautiful  site, 
so  opportunely  and  wisely  secured,  is  an  earnest  of  success. 
Large  and  commodious  buildings  are  soon  to  be  erected 
thereon.  The  normal  and  preparatory  departments  of 
the  university  were  opened  on  the  first  of  May,  under  the 
instruction  of  Rev.  E.  F.  Williams,  an  accomplished 
scholar  and  a  thorough  teacher.  At  the  close  of  the 

384 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

month  the  school  numbered  thirty-one  scholars;  it  has 
now  increased  to  about  sixty.  Miss  Lord,  so  long  a 
popular  teacher  of  this  city,  has  been  appointed  assistant. 
The  grade  of  this  school  is  low  for  its  name,  but  the 
students  are  making  good  advancement." 

It  may  be  thought  by  casual  consideration,  as  was 
said  by  eminent  men,  that  the  name  was  the  largest 
thing  about  it,  but  I  prefer  to  disagree  and  to  say  that 
the  purpose  as  set  forth  in  the  charter  is  the  greatest 
thing  about  it.  These  are  the  words: 

"We  urge  all  friends  of  the  freedmen  to  increasing 
confidence  and  to  look  forward  with  assured  expectation 
to  greater  things  than  these.  This  people  are  to  be  pre 
pared  for  what  is  being  prepared  for  them.  They  are 
to  become  a  'people  which  in  time  past  were  not  a  people'; 
and  there  is  increasing  evidence  that  'God  hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  the  nations  of  men.'  Equal  endowments 
substantially,  with  equal  culture,  will  produce  that 
equality  common  to  all  mankind." 

In  them  we  get  the  quintescence,  we  get  the  crystal 
lization,  we  get  the  high  purpose,  we  get  the  spiritual 
foundation,  of  Howard  University. 

Conceived  in  prayer,  born  of  the  faith  and  convic 
tions  as  embodied  in  its  original  seal  which  reads,  "Equal 
rights  and  knowledge  for  all,"  an  offspring  of  Plymouth 
Rock,  Howard  University  is  set  before  you — a  cross 
between  religious  fervor  and  prophetic  educational  en 
thusiasm.  She  is,  then,  the  essence  filtrating  from  the 
declaration  of  Paul  at  Athens,  that  "of  one  blood  hath 
God  created  all  men  to  dwell  upon  earth." 

385 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

For  forty-five  years,  Howard  has  been  living  her  life. 
She  has  been  more  or  less  doing  her  work  as  circumstances 
allowed  and  dictated,  but  now  we  ask  of  you  "Watchman, 
what  of  the  night?"  How  far  has  this  work  been  pro 
gressing  along  the  line  of  basal  principles  that  we  find 
embodied  in  all  these  authoritative  extracts?  Unfortu 
nate  I  think  it  is  that  the  discussions  in  the  early  meetings 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  were  not  preserved  in  steno 
graphic  report,  for  the  time  will  come  when  the  spiritual 
history  of  Howard  University  must  be  written  as  well  as 
its  material  history,  and  then  the  historian  will  be  at  a 
loss  to  find  the  true  afflatus  that  gave  birth  to  our  alma 
mater,  unless  we  keep  it  in  evidence. 

The  imagination  has  oft  painted  Howard  University 
as  a  temple — a  temple  of  knowledge, — a  temple  for  the 
teaching  of  justice;  a  temple  for  the  upbuild  of  mankind. 
Let  us  then  hold  its  form  to  our  imagination,  pearly 
white  as  the  palaces  of  the  South,  straight  in  its  construc 
tion  as  rectitude,  and  let  us  present  it  to  an  admiring 
world,  not  only  for  aesthetic  culture  but  ethical  grandeur, 
religious  progress,  and  political  righteousness;  and  let 
us  say  to  all,  be  he  high  or  low,  "who  touches  a  stone  in 
yon  God-given  edifice"  is  guilty  of  vandalism,  is  an  icono 
clast  not  at  any  time  to  be  tolerated.  He  is  tampering 
with  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  worthy  people  and 
deserves  to  have  visited  upon  him  the  excoriation  of  a 
fiery  indignation.  Howard  was  created  to  meet  the 
dire  needs  of  a  meritorious  class,  and  insensible  indeed 
must  the  man  be  who  for  sentimental  or  personal  reasons 
or  for  profit,  swerves  one  degree  from  the  line  of  the 

386 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  COOK 

highest  form  of  education  in  administration  or  instruc 
tion.  There  should  be  launched  upon  him  the  anathema 
of  an  outraged  people. 

Sound  the  alarm  that  no  man  must  hinder  the  true 
mission  of  Howard  University.  It  were  better  for  him 
that  a  millstone  were  hung  about  his  neck  and  that  he 
be  cast  into  the  deep.  For  him  there  is  punishment 
even  after  death  in  the  sure  infamy  that  will  attach  to 
his  name. 

The  old  motto,  "Equal  rights  and  knowledge  for  all," 
is  a  necessary  constituent  of  the  Howard  University  life 
and  purpose.  There  can  be  no  Howard  University  with 
out  equal  rights  and  highest  culture  for  all,  based  upon 
merit  and  capacity.  To  be  plain,  we  know  of  no  Negro 
education.  Political  rights  and  civic  privileges  are  accom 
paniments  of  citizenship  and  are  therefore  part  of  the 
warp  and  woof  of  Howard  University's  curricula;  the 
salt  and  savor  without  which  wherewith  will  it  be  salted? 
Mathematics  has  no  color;  ethics  and  philosophy  are 
of  no  creed  or  class;  culture  was  not  fashioned  for  race 
monopoly;  knowledge  is  in  no  plan  or  department  an 
exclusive  goal;  justice  is  universal.  Freedom  in  striving 
for  the  acquisition  of  God's  bounty  as  revealed  by  nature 
is  the  birthright  of  all  and  an  inalienable  right  of  all. 
These  are  God-given  privileges,  and  any  contravention 
of  them  is  born  of  evil  and  belongs  to  the  evil  powers. 

Our  privileges  have  imposed  a  trust  and  we  are  the 
trustees.  Let  no  man  deceive  himself.  Whatever  the 
opportunity  of  approval  now  for  betrayal  of  trust  be 
queathed  to  us,  the  time  will  come  for  the  court  of  public 

387 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

opinion  to  find  whom  to  blame  and  whom  to  thank. 
What  the  founders  demanded  for  Howard,  we  must  still 
demand.  What  William  Clark  and  Martha  Spaulding 
by  their  gifts  meant,  must  still  be  meant  by  Howard's 
activities.  Being  justified  in  the  past,  it  must  be  main 
tained  in  the  future.  Then  to-night  let  us  re-baptize 
in  Howard  spirit  and  issue  the  mandate  of  loyalty  and 

endeavor. 

***** 

Let  no  Howard  man  ever  expatriate  himself.  Neces 
sity  driving  him  from  Howard,  let  him  consider  himself 
domiciled  elsewhere,  but  his  scholastic  citizenship  intact 
in  Howard. 

We  will  sing  the  old  song  of  Howard,  though  there 
be  other  songs  greater.  Yale,  Cambridge,  Oxford,  and 
Leipsic  may  sing  their  songs,  but,  for  me  and  my  house . 
we  will  sing  "Howard,  I  love  old  Howard." 

Let  us  imitate  the  psalmist:  "We  will  meditate  also 
of  all  thy  work,  and  talk  of  thy  doings."  We  will  exalt 
Howard  and  delight  in  her  good  work.  Where  she  is 
weak  we  will  endeavor  to  strengthen,  and  where  she  is 
strong  we  will  direct  to  the  uplift  of  the  race.  She  may 
be  lacking  in  equipment;  that  can  be  tolerated;  but  as 
to  principle,  she  must  not  be  weak  at  any  point.  From 
stem  to  stern  she  must  carry  the  marks  of  her  purpose, 
and  at  mast-head  must  float  the  pennant  of  her  seals. 

Neither  time  nor  purpose  can  ever  erase  the  fitness 
of  "Equal  rights  and  knowledge  for  all,"  "For  God  and 
the  Republic," — the  two  seals. 


388 


A  SOLUTION  OF  THE  RACE  PROBLEM* 
BY  J.  MILTON  WALDRON,  S.  T.  D. 

J.  MILTON  WALDRON,  D.D.,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Noted  as  having  erected 
and  operated  the  first  Institutional  Church  among  Negroes  in  America  in  Jack 
sonville,  Florida,  1890-1907. 

That  fearless,  able,  and  broad-minded  author  of 
"The  Negro  and  the  Sunny  South" — a  book,  by  the  way, 
every  American  citizen  should  read — Samuel  Creed  Cross, 
a  white  man  of  West  Virginia,  takes  up  an  entire  chapter 
in  giving  with  the  briefest  comments  even  a  partial  list  of 
the  crimes  committed  by  the  whites  of  the  South  against 
the  Negroes  during  the  author's  recent  residence  of  six 
months  in  the  section.  Last  year  eighty  or  ninety  colored 
persons,  some  of  them  women  and  children,  were  mur 
dered,  lynched,  or  burned  for  "the  nameless  crime,"  for 
murder  or  suspected  murder,  for  barn-burning,  for  insult 
ing  white  women  and  "talking  back"  to  white  men,  for 
striking  an  impudent  white  lad,  for  stealing  a  white  boy's 
lunch  and  for  no  crime  at  all — unless  it  be  a  crime  for  a 
black  man  to  ask  Southern  men  to  accord  him  the 
rights  guaranteed  him  by  the  Constitution. 

Within  the  last  twelve  months  Georgia  disfranchised 
her  colored  citizens  by  a  constitutional  subterfuge  and 
Florida  attempted  the  same  crime.  And  within  the  same 

*  Delivered  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  1912. 

380 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

period  almost  every  white  secular  newspaper,  and  many 
of  the  religious  journals,  of  the  South  contained  in  every 
issue  of  their  publications  abusive  and  malicious  articles 
concerning  the  Negro  in  which  they  inflamed  the  whites 
against  the  brother  in  black  and  sought  to  justify  the 
South  in  robbing  him  of  his  labor,  his  self-respect,  his 
franchise,  his  liberty,  and  life  itself.  Many  of  the  offi 
cials  of  Southern  States,  including  numerous  judges  and 
not  a  few  Christian  ministers,  helped  or  sanctioned  these 
Negro-hating  editors  and  reporters  in  their  despicable 
onslaught  upon  the  Negro,  while  tens  of  thousands  of 
white  business  men  of  the  South  fattened  upon  Negro 
convict  labor  and  the  proceeds  of  the  " order  system." 

Not  satisfied  with  the  wrongs  and  outrages  she  has 
heaped  upon  the  colored  people  in  her  own  borders  the 
South  is  industriously  preaching  her  wicked  doctrine  of 
Negro  inferiority,  Negro  suppression,  and  Negro  oppres 
sion  everywhere  in  the  North,  East,  and  West.  And  yet, 
in  the  face  of  this  terrible  record  of  crime  against  the 
liberty,  manhood,  and  political  rights  and  the  life  of  the 
colored  man  which  is  being  rewritten  in  the  South  every 
day,  there  are  those  in  high  places  who  have  the  temerity 
to  tell  us  that  "The  Southern  people  are  the  Negro's  best 
friends,"  and  that  the  Negro  problem  is  a  Southern 
problem  and  the  South  should  be  allowed  to  solve  it  in 
her  own  way  without  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the 
North. 

The  North  and  the  South  together  stole  the  black 
man  from  his  home  in  Africa  and  enslaved  him  in  this 
land,  and  this  whole  nation  has  reaped  the  benefits  of  his 

390 


/.  MILTON  WALDRON 

two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil,  and  this 
whole  nation  must  see  to  it  that  the  black  man  is  fully 
emancipated,  enfranchised,  thoroughly  educated  in  heart, 
head,  and  hand,  and  permitted  to  exercise  his  rights  as 
a  citizen  and  earn,  wherever  and  however  he  can,  an 
honest  and  sufficient  living  for  himself,  his  wife,  and 
children — this  the  South  cannot  do  alone  and  unaided. 

Nearly  three  millions  of  the  ten  million  Negroes  in 
this  country  live  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  and 
thousands  of  others  are  coming  North  and  going  West 
every  month;  over  four  hundred  thousand  of  the  three 
millions  mentioned  above  live  in  Washington,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  St.  Louis,  and  Chicago;  if  the 
Negro  problem  was  ever  a  Southern  problem,  the  colored 
brother  has  taken  it  with  him  into  the  North  and  the 
West  and  made  it  a  national  problem. 

The  life,  liberty,  and  happiness  of  the  black  man  and 
of  the  white  man  of  this  country  are  so  wrapped  up 
together  that  it  is  impossible  to  oppress  the  one  without 
eventually  oppressing  the  other.  The  white  man  of  the 
South  was  cursed  by  slavery  as  much  almost  as  the  black 
man  whom  he  robbed  of  life,  liberty,  and  virtue.  In 
many  parts  of  the  South  to-day  the  masses  of  poor  white 
men  are  no  better  off  in  any  sphere  of  life  than  the  colored 
people,  with  the  single  exception  that  their  faces  are  white. 
The  rights  and  liberties  of  the  common  people  of  this 
entire  country  have  grown  less  secure,  and  their  ballots 
have  steadily  diminished  in  power,  while  the  colored  man 
has  been  robbed  of  his  franchise  by  the  South.  The 
trusts  and  the  favored  classes  of  this  country  have  seen 

391 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  rights  of  millions  of  loyal  black  citizens  taken  from 
them  by  the  South  in  open  violation  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  and  that  with  the  indirect  approval  of  the 
highest  courts  of  the  land.  And  these  trusts  and  interests 
have  come  to  feel  that  constitutions  and  laws  are  not 
binding  upon  them,  and  that  the  common  people — white 
and  black — have  no  rights  which  they  are  bound  to 
respect.  The  South  alone  cannot  right  these  gigantic 
wrongs  nor  restore  to  the  white  people  (not  to  mention 
the  Negroes)  within  her  own  borders  the  liberties  and 
privileges  guaranteed  them  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

In  discussing  the  South's  attitude  towards  the  colored 
man  we  seek  only  to  hold  up  to  scorn  and  contempt  the 
spirit  which  pervades  the  majority  of  the  people  who  live 
in  that  section;  and  we  desire  to  condemn  only  the  men 
of  the  South  who  hate  their  fellow  men;  we  wish  to  bear 
testimony  now  and  here  to  the  truth  that  there  is  an 
undercurrent  in  the  South  which  is  making  for  righteous 
ness,  and  that  there  are  a  few  noble  and  heroic  souls  in 
every  Southern  State  who  believe  that  the  Negro  ought 
to  be  treated  as  a  man  and  be  given  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  accorded  any  other  man.  This  righteous 
spirit  must,  however,  be  encouraged  and  strengthened, 
and  the  number  of  noble  and  fair-minded  men  and  women 
in  the  South  must  be  greatly  augmented,  or  the  battle 
for  human  liberty  and  the  manhood  and  political  rights 
of  both  races  in  that  section  will  never  be  won. 

We  beg  to  say  that  all  the  enemies  of  human  rights  in 
general,  and  of  the  rights  of  black  men  in  particular,  are 

392 


/.  MILTON  WALDRON 

not  in  the  South;  the  wrongs  complained  of  by  the  Negro 
in  that  section  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  same  as  those 
bewailed  by  him  in  the  North,  with  this  difference:  the 
Northern  Negro's  right  to  protest  against  the  wrongs 
heaped  upon  him  is  less  restricted,  and,  his  means  of 
protection  and  defense  are  more  numerous  in  the  North 
than  in  the  South.  Already  in  at  least  one  State  north  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  Herculean  efforts  are  being  put 
forth  to  disfranchise  the  colored  man  by  constitutional 
enactment;  the  discrimination  against  a  man  on  account 
of  his  color,  and  the  lynching  of  Negroes  and  the  burning 
of  their  houses  by  infuriated  mobs  of  white  men,  are  not 
unheard  of  things  in  the  North  and  West.  Most  of  the 
labor-unions  of  these  sections  are  still  closed  to  the 
brother  in  black,  and  most  white  working-men  in  the 
Northern  and  Western  States  are  determined  that  the 
Negro  shall  not  earn  a  living  in  any  respectable  calling  if 
they  can  prevent  it.  Many  of  the  newspapers  North  and 
West  (and  a  few  right  here  in  New  York  City)  often  use 
their  columns  to  misrepresent  and  slander  the  colored 
man,  and  it  was  only  last  week  when  one  of  the  highest 
courts  in  the  Empire  State  rendered  a  decision  in  which 
it  justified  discrimination  against  a  man  on  the  grounds 
of  his  color  and  his  condition  of  servitude.  Verily,  the 
Negro  problem  is  not  a  Southern,  but  a  national  problem! 

He      *       *       *      * 

Many  solutions  for  the  Negro  problem  have  been 
proposed,  but  to  our  mind  there  is  one  and  only  one 
practical  and  effective  answer  to  the  question.  In  the 
first  place  we  claim  that  the  early  friends  of  the  Negro 

393 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

grasped  the  true  solution,  which  is  that  his  needs  and 
possibilities  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  other  members 
of  the  human  family;  that  he  must  be  educated  not  only 
for  industrial  efficiency  and  for  private  gain,  but  to  share 
in  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  a  free  democracy; 
that  he  must  have  equality  of  rights,  for  his  own  sake,  for 
the  sake  of  the  human  race,  and  for  the  perpetuity  of  free 
institutions.  America  will  not  have  learned  the  full  lesson 
of  her  system  of  human  slavery  until  she  realizes  that  a 
rigid  caste  system  is  inimical  to  the  progress  of  the  human 
race  and  to  the  perpetuity  of  democratic  government. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Negro  must  make  common 
cause  with  the  working  class  which  to-day  is  organizing 
and  struggling  for  better  social  and  economic  conditions. 
The  old  slave  oligarchy  maintained  its  ascendency  largely 
by  fixing  a  gulf  between  the  Negro  slave  and  the  white 
free  laborer,  and  the  jealousies  and  animosities  of  the 
slave  period  have  survived  to  keep  apart  the  Negro  and 
the  laboring  white  man.  Powerful  influences  are  at  work 
even  to-day  to  impress  upon  the  Negro  the  fact  that  he 
must  look  to  the  business  men  of  the  South  alone  for 
protection  and  recognition  of  his  rights,  while  at  the  same 
time  these  very  same  influences  inflame  the  laboring  white 
man  against  the  black  man  with  fears  of  social  equality 
and  race  fusion.  The  Negro,  being  a  laborer,  must  see 
that  the  cause  of  labor  is  his  cause,  that  his  elevation  can 
be  largely  achieved  by  having  the  sympathy,  support, 
and  co-operation  of  that  growing  organization  of  working 
men  the  world  over  which  is  working  out  the  larger  pro 
blems  of  human  freedom  and  economic  opportunity. 

394 


/.  MILTON  WALDRON 

In  the  third  place,  wherever  in  this  country  the  Negro 
has  the  franchise,  and  where  by  complying  with  require 
ments  he  can  regain  it,  let  him  exercise  it  faithfully  and 
constantly,  but  let  him  do  so  as  an  independent  and  not 
as  a  partisan,  for  his  political  salvation  in  the  future 
depends  upon  his  voting  for  men  and  measures,  rather 
than  with  any  particular  party. 

For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  black  man  of 
America  toiled  in  the  South  without  pay  and  without 
thanks;  he  cleared  her  forests,  tunneled  her  mountains, 
bridged  her  streams,  built  her  cottages  and  palaces, 
enriched  her  fields  with  his  sweat  and  blood,  nursed  her 
children,  protected  her  women  and  guarded  her  homes 
from  the  midnight  marauder,  the  devouring  flames,  and 
approaching  disease  and  death.  The  colored  American 
willingly  and  gladly  enlisted  and  fought  in  every  war 
waged  by  this  country,  from  the  first  conflict  with  the 
Indians  to  the  last  battle  in  Cuba  and  the  Philippines; 
when  enfranchised  he  voted  the  rebellious  States  back 
into  the  Union,  and  from  that  day  until  this  he  has,  as  a 
race,  never  used  his  ballot,  unless  corrupted  or  intim 
idated  by  white  men,  to  the  detriment  of  any  part  of 
America.  When  in  power  in  the  South,  though  for  the 
most  part  ignorant  and  just  out  of  slavery  and  surrounded 
by  vindictive  exslave  owners  and  mercenary,  corrupted 
and  corrupting  "carpet  baggers,"  he  did  what  his  former 
masters  had  failed  for  centuries  to  do — he  established 
the  free  school  system,  erected  asylums  for  the  insane 
and  indigent  poor,  purged  the  statute-books  of  disgraceful 
marriage  laws  and  oppressive  and  inhuman  labor  regula- 

395 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

tions,  revised  and  improved  the  penal  code,  and  by  many 
other  worthy  acts  proved  that  the  heart  of  the  race  was, 
and  is,  in  the  right  place,  and  that  whenever  the  American 
Negro  has  been  trusted,  he  has  proven  himself  trust 
worthy  and  manly.  And  when  the  colored  man  is  educa 
ted,  and  is  treated  with  fairness  and  justice,  and  is 
accorded  the  rights  and  privileges  which  are  the  birth 
right  of  every  American  citizen,  he  will  show  himself  a 
man  among  men,  and  the  race  problem  will  vanish  as  the 
mist  before  the  rising  sun. 


THE  SOCIAL  BEARINGS  OF  THE  FIFTH 
COMMANDMENT 

BY  JAMES  FRANCIS  GREGORY,  B.D. 

Vice  Principal  Manual  Training  and  Industrial  School,  Borden- 
town,  New  Jersey 

"Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the  land 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee. " 

While  obedience  to  parents  is  the  primary  significance 
of  this  command,  its  widening  scope  is  seen  hi  the  com 
prehensive  authority  of  the  father  of  the  old  Hebrew 
family.  He  was  the  ruler  and  the  protector  of  the  family, 
and  as  human  society  enlarged  and  much  of  the  original 
authority  of  the  parent  passed  from  him,  the  child  was 
prepared  to  give  honor  to  such  authority  and  wisdom  as 
he  had  recognized  in  the  father.  Thus  generically  the 
command  may  cover  the  wide  range  suggested  by  the 
Westminster  Assembly:  "The  Fifth  Commandment 
requireth  the  preserving  the  honor  and  performing  the 
duties  belonging  to  every  one  in  their  several  places  and 
relations  as  superiors,  inferiors  or  equals."  And  this 
honor  idea  in  the  home  not  only  spreads  out,  but  it  climbs, 
and  we  may  say  that  as  the  Hebrew  family  contained  the 
beginning  of  government,  all  other  authorities  of  this 
world  wind  up  and  out  of  the  home,  ascending  in  spiral 

form  until  the  little  coil  of  the  domestic  circle  eventuates. 
*    *    *    *    * 

Last  summer,  while  seated  in  a  crowded  train,  my 

397 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

attention  was  attracted  by  a  little  family  group.  The 
heat-worn  mother  held  a  baby  in  one  arm,  and  the  other 
hand  was  steadying  a  toddling  boy.  She  had  repeatedly 
reproved  her  half-grown  daughter  and  finally  spoke 
sharply  to  her,  when  the  child  suddenly  lifted  the  heavy 
umbrella  in  her  hand  and  struck  her  mother! 

These  are  the  facts  that  impressed  me :  the  unmasked 
powerlessness  of  the  mother,  the  cool  unconcern  of  the 
father,  but  above  all  the  apathetic  indifference  of  the 
passengers. 

The  modern  family  is  without  discipline,  all  of  the 
elements  in  the  home  having  a  tendency  to  wander  from 
the  hearth  center.  There  is  the  father  whose  absence, 
because  of  occupational  absorption,  is  lengthened  by 
many  extraneous  interests.  The  mother,  too,  is  receding 
from  the  home  center  in  her  misguided  enthusiasm  for 
so-called  equality  in  business,  professional,  and  political 
life.  And  the  children?  As  one  sad-faced  mother  said  to 

me  the  other  day,  "They  get  out  of  the  home  so  early!" 
*    *    *    *    * 

All  the  reverence  for  parents  in  the  world's  history, 

is  hallowed  by  the  lofty  example  of  Jesus  in  his  dutiful 

subjection  to  his  earthly  parents,  and  in  the  marvelous 

solicitude  of  his  dying  words,  "Son,  behold  thy  mother !" 

***** 

A  great  light  is  thrown  on  this  economic  relation  of 
the  commandment  by  the  attitude  of  the  Centurion  plead 
ing  with  the  Master  for  his  servant's  life.  Here  was  an 
employer  whose  stretched-out  arm  of  authority  could  be 
transformed  into  a  gesture  of  appeal,  for  his  servant 

398 


JAMES  F.  GREGORY 

lying  sick  at  home.  Indeed  only  as  the  spirit  of  this 
commandment  makes  itself  felt  in  our  business  life  will 
the  clenched  hands  of  capital  and  labor  relax  from  the 
hilts  of  their  dripping  blades  and  grasp  each  other  with 
the  warm  pressure  of  brotherly  sympathy. 

*  *      *      *      * 

Then  there  are  the  mutual  relations  between  the  young 
and  the  aged.  Oh,  for  a  return  in  our  youth  to  that 
ancient  bowing  deference  to  old  age  a  beautiful  instance 
of  which  Cicero  preserves  for  us.  Into  the  crowded 
amphitheatre  at  Athens,  with  the  multitudes'  expectant 
hush,  there  staggered  an  aged  man,  who  made  his  tot 
tering  progress,  beneath  tier  after  tier  of  indifferent 
or  averted  faces,  looking  in  vain  for  a  place,  until  fin 
ally  he  came  in  front  of  the  section  occupied  by  the 
Lacademonians,  who  rose  as  one  man  and  offered  him 

a  seat! 

*  *    *    *    * 

Then  there  are  the  superiors  and  inferiors  in  wisdom. 
As  we  look  back  through  the  mists  of  years  to  our  student 
years,  there  stand  out  sharply  distinguished  the  kindly 
figures  of  our  intellectual  fathers.  I  recall  at  this  moment 
that  man  of  infinite  reserve  behind  the  desk  at  Yale, 
whose  eye  could  flash  with  authority  and  yet  kindle  with 
concern  at  the  sight  of  the  necessity  of  one  of  his  boys — 
in  Browning's  thought,  "As  sheathes  a  film  the  mother 
eagle's  eye  when  her  bruised  eaglet  breathes!" 

*  *    *    *    * 

I  need  scarcely  suggest  the  obvious  pertinence  of  this 
command  to  the  relations  of  the  pastor  and  his  congrega- 

399 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

tion.  We  cling  very  jealously  to  the  term,  "Father," 
as  it  has  been  applied  to  the  men  of  God  in  the  history  of 
the  Church.  The  picture  is  beautiful  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  priest,  conscious  of  the  reluctance  of  her  neighbors 
to  bear  to  the  poor  widow  the  evil  news  of  the  sudden 
death  of  her  only  son,  walking  quietly  up  the  gravel  path, 
and  covering  with  his  healthy  hands  the  two  withered 
ones  as  he  met  her  at  the  doorway,  answering  her  search 
ing  inquiry,  "Father?"  with  an  unmistakable  inflection 
of  the  words,  "  My  child ! "  That  also  of  the  American  Pro 
testant  Episcopal  bishop,  leaving  his  little  birthday 
gathering  already  interrupted  for  three  successive  years, 
and  foregoing  a  breath  of  country  air,  after  weary  months 
of  toil  in  the  hot  city,  to  comfort  a  simple  family  hovering 
piteously  about  a  little  white  casket: — these  are  attitudes 
far  more  impressive  than  the  ceremonious  exercise  of 
their  loftiest  ecclesiastical  functions. 

*  *    *    *    * 

Many  lines  of  evidence  from  the  side  of  reason  con 
verge  on  the  Biblical  teaching  that  civil  government  is  a 
divine  institution.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  our  later  American  growth  is  the  colossal 
selfishness  of  our  people.  The  habit  of  freedom  from 

restraint  is  fast  hardening  into  a  lawlessness  of  character. 

*  *    *    *    * 

Listen  to  some  of  the  palliating  expressions  with 
which  our  legal  atmosphere  is  permeated:  "indiscreet 
and  untactful,"  "the  unwritten  law,"  "swift  justice," 
"murder  a  fine  art,"  and  remember  that  these  are  the 
terms  that  play  around  that  triangle  of  corrupt  judge, 

400 


JAMES  F.  GREGORY 

dallying  lawyer,  and  bribed  and  illiterate  jury — all 
conspiring  to  "shove  by  justice"  with  technicalities. 
And  what  are  those  sinister  figures,  flitting  and  stalking 
through  the  land — the  law-maker  with  his  spoils,  the 
rioter  with  his  rock,  the  anarchist  with  his  bomb,  the 
assassin  thrusting  out  his  black  hand,  the  lyncher  with 
his  battering  ram,  his  rope  and  his  rifle;  these  are  some  of 
the  outside  lawless  who  conspire  with  the  inside  lawless  to 
make  a  scarecrow  of  American  law,  making  it  the  perch 
and  not  the  terror  of  the  birds  of  prey.  And  who  knows 
how  soon  all  of  these  lawless  ones  may  stand  up  together 
and,  with  a  monarch's  voice  cry,  Havoc  in  the  confines  of 

this  Republic! 

*    *    *    *    * 

But  we  must  be  conscious  of  our  Heavenly  Father 
behind  the  earthly  type.  This  unmistakably  is  the 
significance  of  the  Biblical  words:  "To  obey  your 
parents  in  the  Lord  " ;  "  To  be  obedient  unto  your  masters 
as  unto  Christ";  "To  fear  God  in  honoring  the  face  of 
the  old  man  " ;  "  To  be  subject  unto  rulers  as  the  ministers 
of  God."  And  this  leads  us  to  the  great  levelling  truth, 
that  we  are  all  equally  accountable  to  our  Heavenly 
Father,  that  we  are  nations  and  individuals,  in  the  high 
thought  of  Lincoln,  "Under  God." 
***** 

This  command  carries  with  it  the  promise  of  a  reward 
restated  by  Paul,  "Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother 
that  it  may  be  well  with  thee  and  that  thou  mayest  live 
long  on  the  earth. "  In  fact  this  is  the  logic  of  life.  This 
retributive  justice  is  bound  up  in  the  laws  of  nature. 
Plants  that  array  themselves  against  these  laws  wither 

401 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  die.  And  higher  up  in  the  animal  kingdom,  Kipling's 
verse  tells  us  that  this  inexorable  sequence  prevails: 

"And  these  are  the  laws  of  the  Jungle, 

And  many  and  mighty  are  they; 
But  the  head  and  the  hoof  of  the  law  is, 
And  the  haunch  and  the  hump  is — obey. " 

And  it  is  true  that  obedience  in  a  human  being  conduces 
to  a  long  and  prosperous  life.  The  beautiful  truth  is 
gradually  emerging  in  science  and  theology  that  religion 
is  healthful.  As  one  of  my  discerning  fathers  was  often 
wont  to  say,  "The  whole  Bible  is  a  text-book  of  Advanced 

Biology,  telling  men  how  they  may  gain  the  fuller  life." 
*    *    *    *    * 

Here  and  there  the  obedient  die  early,  you  say. — Yes; 
and  this  fact  sounds  the  deeper  spiritual  import  of  this 
promise,  for  they,  sooner  than  we,  enter  upon  that  eternal 
life,  and  pass  over  into  that  greener  Canaan,  to  that 
inheritance  incorruptible  and  undented. 

Standing  one  afternoon  in  the  Gallery  of  the  Louvre 
in  Paris,  a  vision  of  the  perfect  adjustment  of  our  seem 
ingly  conflicting  relations  to  Caesar  and  to  God  shone 
forth  to  me,  in  the  divine  gesture  of  the  Master  in  Da 
Vinci's  wonderful  painting  of  the  Last  Supper,  where  the 
hand  turned  downward  lays  hold  of  the  things  of  earth, 
and  the  hand  turned  upward  grips  the  things  which  are 
eternal,  both  of  which  obligations  are  glorified  in  those 
later  words  of  the  Saviour  spoken  out  of  the  agony  of  the 
Cross:  " Son,  behold  thy  mother!  Father,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit. " 


402 


LIFE'S  MORN* 

BY  WILLIAM  C.  JASON,  D.  D. 

Principal  State  College  for  Colored  Students,  Dover,  Delaware 

"Nature,"  says  one,  ais  like  a  woman;  in  the  morning 
she  is  fresh  from  her  bath,  at  noon  she  has  on  her  working- 
dress,  and  at  night  she  wears  her  jewels. " 

Nature  is  most  charming  in  the  morning.  The  follow 
ing  extract  from  "A  Picture  of  Dawn "  is  a  tribute  Edward 
Everett  pays  to  the  morning. 

"As  we  proceeded,  the  timid  approach  of  the  twilight 
became  more  perceptible;  the  intense  blue  of  the  sky 
began  to  soften ;  the  smaller  stars,  like  little  children,  went 
first  to  rest;  the  sister  beams  of  the  Pleiades  soon  melted 
together;  but  the  bright  constellations  of  the  west  and 
north  remained  unchanged.  Steadily  the  wondrous 
transfiguration  went  on.  Hands  of  angels,  hidden  from 
mortal  eyes,  shifted  the  scenery  of  the  heavens;  the 
glories  of  the  night  dissolved  into  the  glories  of  the  dawn. 
The  blue  sky  now  turned  more  softly  gray;  the  great 
watch-stars  shut  up  their  holy  eyes;  the  east  began  to 
kindle.  Faint  streaks  of  purple  soon  blushed  along  the 
sky;  the  whole  celestial  concave  was  filled  with  the  inflow- 

*An  address  delivered  before  the  Wilmington  District  Epworth  League 
Convention. 

403 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ing  tides  of  the  morning  light  which  came  pouring  down 
from  above  in  one  great  ocean  of  radiance;  till  at  length, 
as  we  reached  the  Blue  Hills,  a  flash  of  purple  fire  blazed 
out  from  above  the  horizon,  and  turned  the  dewy  tear 
drops  of  flower  and  leaf  into  rubies  and  diamonds.  In  a 
few  seconds,  the  everlasting  gates  of  the  morning  were 
thrown  wide  open,  and  the  lord  of  day,  arrayed  in  glories 
too  severe  for  the  gaze  of  man,  began  his  state. " 

Nothing  but  the  morning  itself  is  more  beautiful  than 
this  sublime  description. 

The  best  of  the  day  is  the  morning.  The  brain  is 
clearer,  the  nerves  more  steady,  the  physical  powers  at 
their  best  before  the  sun  reaches  its  zenith.  Weariness 
waits  for  noon,  and  the  wise  man  chooses  the  morning  as 
the  period  for  his  most  exacting  toil. 

Of  all  the  year,  the  spring-time  is  the  fairest.  Nature 
wakes  from  the  restful  sleep  of  winter.  Grasses  grow, 
flowers  bloom,  trees  put  forth  their  leaves,  birds  build 
their  nests,  and  he  who  hopes  for  harvest  lays  the  founda 
tions  of  his  future  gain.  The  whole  year  is  lost  to  him 
who  sleeps  or  idles  away  the  seed-time  Late  planting 
will  grow,  perhaps,  if  excessive  heat  does  not  kill  the  seed 
or  wither  the  shoot;  but  before  it  comes  to  fruitage  the 
frosts  of  autumn  will  blight  it,  flower  and  stem  and  root. 
Man  cannot  alter  God's  plan.  There  is  a  time  to  sow  and 
a  time  to  reap. 

Life  has  its  seasons  also — its  spring-time,  its  winter; 
morning,  noon,  and  night.  The  Scriptures  enjoin  us  to 
work  while  it  is  called  day;  for  the  night  cometh  when  no 

404 


WILLIAM  C.  JASON 

man  can  work.  In  the  parable  the  rich  man  who  went  on 
a  journey  appointed  each  servant  a  task.  To  each  of  us  is 
entrusted  some  treasure;  each  is  commanded  to  work. 
To  labor  is  man's  appointed  lot.  This  is  his  supreme 
mission  in  the  world.  He  cannot  avoid  it.  Even  the 
servant  who  sought  to  evade  his  responsibility  went  and 
digged  in  the  earth. 

Resisting  the  forces  which  tend  to  destroy  life;  sur 
mounting  the  obstacles  to  substantial  success;  breaking 
down  barriers,  commercial,  civil,  social,  political,  and 
becoming  a  factor  in  the  best  life  of  his  community — 
the  peer  of  any  in  mental  and  moral  qualities,  a  represen 
tative  and  an  advocate  of  the  principles  0f  justice  and 
equality — this  is  the  work  of  a  man. 

Such  efforts  do  not  tax  the  muscles  only.  They  call 
forth  the  energies  of  the  entire  being.  Foresight,  calcula 
tion,  enterprise,  courage,  self-control;  fertility  in  resources; 
the  ability  to  recognize  and  embrace  an  opportunity,  are 
all  required.  The  inspiration  must  come  from  above.  All 
the  powers  of  mind  and  body  must  be  enlisted.  Flagging 
energies,  lashed  by  an  indomitable  will,  must  persevere. 

"Life  is  real  and  life  is  earnest"  wrote  the  poet.  He 
who  does  not  take  life  seriously  has  woefully  failed  to 
comprehend  its  significance.  Toil,  service,  sacrifice — 
these  are  the  words  which  tell  the  true  story  of  a  life. 
Willingly,  it  should  be,  but  if  not  so,  then  reluctantly  man 
must  toil,  serve,  sacrifice.  For  noble  ends,  it  should  be, 
but  if  not  so,  then  for  base  ends,  he  must  toil,  serve, 
sacrifice.  With  buoyant,  hopeful  spirit,  or  with  cheerless, 

405 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

heavy  heart;  toil,  service,  sacrifice  is  the  Divine  decree, 

irrevocable,  eternal. 

*    *    *    *    * 

It  is  my  privilege  to  address  the  members  of  the 
Epworth  League  but  my  thought  embraces  young  people 
everywhere,  especially  those  of  my  own  race. 

You  live.  A  definite  responsibility  is  thereby  placed 
upon  you.  Not  as  a  burden  to  be  borne  with  sadness, 
but  rather  as  an  act  of  beneficence  has  the  Creator  called 
you  into  being  and  sent  you  forth  upon  your  mission  in 
the  world.  He  sends  you  to  a  world  full  of  beauty.  Sun 
shine,  fragrance,  and  melody  are  about  you.  Yet  you 
may  not  be  conscious  of  it.  Blindness  or  perverted  vision 
may  cloud  the  sky  and  fill  the  earth  with  shadows.  The 
clamors  of  selfish  interest  or  lawless  passion  may  change 
the  harmony  into  perpetual  discord  and  din.  Evil  associa 
tions,  impure  thoughts,  and  unholy  practises  create  false 
ideas  of  life. 

"Faults  in  the  life  breed  errors  in  the  brain, 
And  these  reciprocally  those  again; 
The  mind  and  conduct  mutually  imprint, 
And  stamp  their  image  in  each  other's  mint. " 

Yet  for  him  who  hath  eyes  to  see,  the  world  is  full  of 
beauty.  Nor  beauty  only;  but  design  is  everywhere 
manifested,  revealing  the  presence  of  a  supreme  Intel 
ligence  and  immeasurable  love  in  fitting  out  for  man  a 
perfect  habitation.  Whatever  of  wretchedness  the  world 
holds  is  man-made.  It  is  proof  positive  of  a  purpose  to 
make  man  happy  that  so  many  instruments  of  pleasure 
are  placed  at  his  hand.  Each  sense  and  organ  has  its 

406 


WILLIAM  C.  JASON 

objects  of  exercise  and  enjoyment.  Every  natural 
instinct,  desire,  and  appetite  is  recognized,  and  its  proper, 
legitimate  indulgence  provided  for.  Blessed  are  they  who 
find  life  joyous  and  who  choose  it,  not  from  a  fear  of  death, 
but  for  what  there  is  in  life — who  can  say:  "I  find  death 
perfectly  desirable,  but  I  find  life  perfectly  beautiful." 

You  have  life  and  you  have  youth.  You  live  in  life's 
morn;  the  spring-time  of  your  existence  is  upon  you. 
Quick  perceptions,  swift  and  keen  intelligence,  strong 
limbs,  rich,  pure  blood,  and  a  hope  that  "springs  eternal," 
are  a  portion  of  the  heritage  of  >outh.  With  faculties 
unimpaired  by  age  or  excesses,  you  awake  to  an  existence 
which  shall  never  end,  and  begin  a  destiny  which  shall  be 
whatever  you,  by  the  use  or  abuse  of  those  faculties,  shall 
determine. 

Hereditary  influences  count  for  something.  Environ 
ment  has  much  to  do  with  the  shaping  of  a  life.  Yet  a 
responsibility  without  evasion  rests  upon  each  individual 
soul.  Not  one  is  saved  or  lost  without  his  own  voluntary 
contribution  toward  that  end.  It  is  an  awful  responsibil 
ity,  commensurate  with  the  rewards  offered  to  integrity 
and  fidelity.  The  thought  that  you  must  stand  at  the 
judgment-seat  and  answer  for  this  life  should  impress  the 
most  thoughtless  with  the  importance  of  seed-time. 

Young  people  are  the  life-blood  of  the  nation,  the 
pillars  of  the  state.  The  future  of  the  world  is  wrapped  up 
in  the  lives  of  its  youth.  As  these  unfold,  the  pages  of 
history  will  tell  the  story  of  deeds  noble  and  base.  Char 
acters  resplendent  with  jewels  and  ornaments  of  virtue 

407 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

will  be  held  up  for  the  admiration  of  the  world  and  the 
emulation  of  generations  not  yet  born.  Others,  thought 
lessly  or  wilfully  ignoring  the  plain  path  of  duty,  dwarfed, 
blighted,  rejected  of  God  and  man,  will  be  sign-posts 
marking  the  road  to  ruin. 

Think  not  that  moderation  will  escape  notice;  you 
cannot  slip  by  with  the  crowd.  Exceptional  instances  of 
vice  or  virtue  attract  more  temporary  notice;  but  the 
thought,  tone,  and  general  sentiment  of  a  community 
give  the  inspiration  and  the  impulse  to  those  who  outstrip 
the  masses  in  the  race  for  the  goal  of  honor  or  of  shame. 
None  so  humble  but  he  has  his  share  in  moulding  the 
destiny  of  the  race.  At  the  last,  a  just  balance  will 
determine  your  share  of  praise  or  blame. 

Young  people  should  recognize  their  own  worth  and 
resolve  to  act  a  noble  part.  "Let  no  man  despise  thy 
youth,"  says  the  Word.  Despise  not  thou  thy  youth. 
Fully  appreciating  your  high  privilege  and  your  rich 
estate,  go  forth  into  the  world's  broad  field  of  battle, 
determined  to  make  no  misuse  of  your  day  of  opportunity. 
Be  bold,  vigilant,  and  strong.  Be  true  to  the  noblest 
instincts  of  your  nature  and  have  strong  faith  in  God. 

"Call  up  thy  noble  spirit; 

Rouse  all  the  generous  energies  of  virtue, 
And,  with  the  strength  of  Heaven-endued  man, 
Repel  the  hideous  foe. " 

"Manhood,  like  gold,  is  tested  in  the  furnace: 

A  fire  that  purifies  is  fierce  and  strong; 
Rare  statues  gain  art's  ideal  of  perfection, 
By  skilful  strokes  of  chisel,  wielded  long. " 

408 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  HOUSE 
OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  MASSACHUSETTS* 

BY  WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 
Assistant  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States 

Mr.  Speaker  and  Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives: 
The  power  of  the  House  to  summons  forthwith  any 
citizen  of  the  Commonwealth  has  never  been  resisted; 
and  so  by  designation  of  the  Honorable  Speaker,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  order  of  the  House,  I  am  here  in  answer  to 
your  summons.  You  have  invited  me,  as  a  member  of  the 
liberated  race,  to  address  you  upon  this  Lincoln's  Birthday 
in  commemoration  of  the  5oth  Anniversary  of  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation.  Words  would  be  futile  to  express 
my  deep  appreciation  of  this  high  honor,  however  un 
worthily  bestowed.  Twice  before  have  I  met  this  honor 
able  House.  I  came  first  as  an  humble  petitioner  seeking 
redress  against  discrimination  on  account  of  color.  You 
then  granted  my  prayer.  Some  years  later,  I  came  as  a 
member  of  this  House,  the  last  representative  of  my  race 
to  sit  in  this  body.  You  treated  me  then  as  a  man  and  an 
equal.  And  now  the  honors  of  an  invited  guest  I  shall 
cherish  as  long  as  memory  lasts. 

To-day  is  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  preserver  of  the  Union,  the  liberator  of  a  race. 

*Boston,  Massachusetts,  Wednesday,  February  12,  1913. 

409 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

"The  mystic  chords  of  memory, "  stretching  from  heart  to 
heart  of  millions  of  Americans  at  this  hour,  "swell  the 
chorus  of  thanksgiving"  to  the  Almighty  for  the  life, 
character,  and  service  of  the  great  President. 

Four  brief,  crucial  years  he  represented  the  soul  of  the 
Union  struggling  for  immortality — for  perpetuity;  in  him 
was  the  spirit  of  liberty  struggling  for  a  new  birth  among 
the  children  of  men. 

"Slavery  must  die/'  he  said,  "that  the  Union  may 
live." 

We  have  a  Union  to-day  because  we  have  Emancipa 
tion;  we  have  Emancipation  because  we  have  a  united 
country.  Though  nearly  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since 
his  martyr  death  and  we  see  his  images  everywhere,  yet 
Lincoln  is  no  mere  legendary  figure  of  an  heroic  age  done 
in  colors,  cast  in  bronze,  or  sculptured  in  marble;  he  is  a 
living,  vital  force  in  American  politics  and  statecraft. 
The  people  repeat  his  wise  sayings;  politicians  invoke  his 
principles;  men  of  many  political  stripes  profess  to  be 
following  in  his  footsteps.  We  of  this  generation  can 
almost  see  him  in  the  flesh  and  blood  and  hear  falling  from 
his  lips  the  sublime  words  of  Gettysburg,  the  divine  music 
of  the  second  inaugural  and  the  immortal  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation.  We  see  this  man  of  mighty  thews  and 
sinews,  his  feet  firmly  planted  in  mother  earth,  his  head 
towering  in  the  heavens.  He  lived  among  men  but  he 
walked  with  God.  He  was  himself  intensely  human,  but 
his  sense  of  right,  of  justice,  seemed  to  surpass  the  wisdom 
of  men.  A  true  child  of  nature,  he  beheld  the  races  of  men 
in  the  raw  without  the  artificial  trappings  of  civilization 

410 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

and  the  adventitious  circumstances  of  birth  or  wealth  or 
place,  and  could  see  no  difference  in  their  natural  rights. 

"The  Negro  is  a  man, "  said  he,  "my  ancient  faith  tells 
me  that  all  men  are  created  equal." 

As  a  man  he  was  brave  yet  gentle,  strong  yet  tender 
and  sympathetic,  with  the  intellect  of  a  philosopher,  yet 
with  the  heart  of  a  little  child.  As  a  statesman  he  was 
prudent,  wise,  sagacious,  far-seeing  and  true.  As  Presi 
dent  he  was  firm,  magnanimous,  merciful,  and  just.  As  a 
liberator  and  benefactor  of  mankind,  he  has  no  peer  in  all 
human  history. 

As  Lowell  said  in  his  famous  commemoration  ode,  it 
still  must  be  said: 

"  Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 

Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 
But  at  last  silence  comes; 

These  are  all  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 

New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. " 

There  are  only  three  great  charters  of  freedom  among 
Anglo-Saxon  peoples:  the  Magna  Charta,  which  the 
barons  wrung  from  King  John  at  Runnymede;  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  which  a  few  colonials  threw  at  the 
head  of  an  obstinate  king;  the  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion,  which  Lincoln  cast  into  the  balance  for  the  Union. 
The  Magna  Charta  gave  freedom  to  the  nobility;  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  brought  freedom  down  to 
the  plain  people;  the  Proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

411 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

set  free  the  under-man,  and  proclaimed  liberty  t©  the 
slave  and  the  serf  throughout  the  world. 

Massachusetts  had  no  small  part  in  the  second  great 
charter  of  liberty.  This  is  attested  not  only  by  the  signa 
tures  of  Hancock,  the  Adams's,  Paine,  and  Gerry  to  that 
great  document,  but  here  are  Boston,  Concord,  Lexing 
ton,  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  a  thousand  memorials  of  the 
Revolution  besides.  Great  indeed  as  was  the  part  that 
Massachusetts  played  in  achieving  independence,  greater 
still  was  her  share  in  the  Emancipation  of  the  slave. 
Lincoln  himself  said  that  Boston  had  done  more  to  bring 
on  the  war  than  any  other  city;  and  when  Emancipation 
had  been  achieved  he  generously  credited  the  result  "to 
the  logic  and  moral  power  of  Garrison  and  the  anti- 
slavery  people. " 

This  day,  therefore,  belongs  to  Massachusetts.  It  is  a 
part  of  her  glorious  history.  Emancipation  was  but  the 
triumph  of  Puritan  principle — the  right  of  each  individual 
to  eat  his  bread  out  of  the  sweat  of  his  own  brow  or  not  at 
all.  The  history  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  America 
could  not  be  written  with  Massachusetts  left  out;  the 
history  of  Massachusetts  herself,  since  the  Revolution, 
would  be  but  a  dreary,  barren  waste  without  the  chapter 
of  her  part  in  the  Emancipation. 

The  House  does  well  to  pause  in  its  deliberations  to 
commemorate  this  anniversary.  In  1837  your  predeces 
sors  threw  open  the  old  Hall  of  Representatives  to  the 
first  meeting  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
A  year  later,  the  legislature  adopted  resolutions  against 
the  slave-trade,  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 

412 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

of  Columbia,  and  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  ter 
ritories. 

The  fathers  early  enacted  that  there  should  be  neither 
bond  slaves  nor  villenage  amongst  us  except  captives 
taken  in  just  wars  and  those  condemned  judicially  to 
serve.  When  it  was  attempted  to  land  the  first  cargo  of 
slaves  upon  her  soil,  the  people  seized  them  and  sent  them 
back  to  their  own  country  and  clime.  In  spite  of  the 
prayers  and  resolutions  and  acts  of  the  early  fathers,  a 
form  of  slavery  grew  up  here,  but  it  was  milder  than  the 
English  villenage:  it  resembled  apprenticeship  except  in 
the  duration.  The  slave  had  many  of  the  rights  of  free 
men;  the  right  to  marry  and  the  right  to  testify  in  court. 
Either  with  the  decision  of  Somerset's  case  in  England  or 
the  adoption  of  the  first  Constitution  of  the  Common 
wealth,  during  the  Revolution,  that  institution  passed 
away  forever.  The  voices  of  freedom  were  first  raised 
here.  Whittier,  Lowell,  and  Longfellow  sang  the  songs  of 
Emancipation.  Garrison,  Phillips,  and  Parker  were  the 
prophets  and  disciples  of  Lincoln.  In  the  darkest  days  of 
slavery,  John  Quincy  Adams  held  aloft  the  torch  of  liberty 
and  fed  its  flame  with  his  own  intrepid  spirit.  Sumner 
was  the  scourge  of  God,  the  conscience  of  the  state  in 
carnate. 

The  people  of  Massachusetts  were  not  only  idealists, 
dreamers,  and  molders  of  public  opinion,  but  when  thirty 
years  of  agitation  had  reached  its  culmination  in  the  Civil 
War,  Massachusetts  sent  150,000  of  her  sons  to  sustain 
upon  the  battle-fields  of  the  Republic  the  ideals  which  she 
had  advocated  in  the  Halls  of  Congress,  in  the  forum  and 

413 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  market-place.  The  people  of  Massachusetts,  true  to 
their  history  and  traditions,  have  abolished  here,  so  far  as 
laws  can  do  so,  every  discrimination  between  race  and 
color,  and  every  inequality  between  man  and  man. 

I  have  recalled  these  things  for  no  vainglorious  pur 
pose.  We  should  remind  ourselves  constantly  that  we 
have  a  history  behind  us,  that  we  have  a  character  to 
sustain.  Are  we  of  this  generation  worthy  descendants  of 
tea  spillers  and  abolitionists?  Are  we  living  up  to  the 
traditions  of  the  Commonwealth,  to  the  principles  of  the 
fathers  in  relation  to  the  treatment  of  citizens  of  color? 
I  have  observed  with  aching  heart  and  agonizing  spirit 
during  the  last  twenty  years  not  only  the  growing  coldness 
and  indifference  on  the  part  of  our  people  to  the  fate  of  the 
Negro  elsewhere;  but  here  in  our  own  city  the  breaking 
up  of  the  old  ties  of  friendship  that  once  existed  between 
people  of  color  and  all  classes  of  citizens,  just  after  Eman 
cipation;  the  gradual  falling  away  of  that  sympathy  and 
support  upon  which  we  could  always  confidently  rely  in 
every  crisis.  I  have  watched  the  spirit  of  race  prejudice 
raise  its  sinister  shape  in  the  labor  market,  in  the  business 
house,  the  real-estate  exchange,  in  public  places,  and  even 
in  our  schools,  colleges,  and  churches. 

I  say  all  this  with  pain  and  sorrow.  I  would  be  the 
last  to  "  soil  my  own  nest "  or  to  utter  one  word  that  would 
reflect  in  the  slightest  degree  upon  Massachusetts  or  her 
people.  I  love  inexpressibly  every  foot  of  Massachusetts 
soil,  from  the  Berkshires  to  Essex,  from  the  Capes  to  the 
islands  off  our  southern  coast.  I  have  studied  her  history; 
I  know  her  people,  and  when  I  have  played  out  the  little 

414 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

game  with  destiny,  I  want  to  rest  upon  some  Massachu 
setts  hillside. 

I  can  never  forget  the  emotions  that  filled  my  breast 
when  first  I  set  foot  in  Boston  just  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  a  Negro  lad  in  search  of  education,  freedom,  and 
opportunity.  As  I  walked  these  sacred  streets  I  lived 
over  the  Revolution,  I  saw  them  peopled  with  the  mighty 
men  of  the  past.  I  hastened  to  make  my  obeisance  first 
to  the  spot  where  Attucks  fell,  the  first  martyr  of  the 
Revolution.  I  next  looked  out  upon  Bunker  Hill  where 
Peter  Salem  stood  guard  over  the  fallen  Warren.  I  said  to 
myself  "here  at  last  no  black  man  need  be  ashamed  of  his 
race,  here  he  has  made  history. "  And  then  to  scenes  of 
still  another  period  I  turned  my  gaze.  I  looked  upon  the 
narrow  streets  where  Garrison  was  mobbed  for  my  sake. 
I  viewed  the  place  where  a  few  brave  men  gave  Shadrach 
to  freedom  and  to  fame.  The  pictured  walls  of  the  old 
"  cradle  of  liberty  "  seemed  still  to  echo  to  the  silvery  tones 
of  Phillips.  The  molded  face  of  Governor  Andrew  spoke  a 
benediction:  "I  know  not  what  record  of  sins  awaits  me 
in  that  other  life,  but  this  I  do  know,  I  never  despised  any 
man  because  he  was  ignorant,  because  he  was  poor  or 
because  he  was  black. " 

I  felt  that  here  at  last  was  liberty,  and  here  I  would 
make  my  home. 

You  say  to  me,  "certainly  you  can  find  no  fault." 
I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  debt  which  I  owe  the  people 
of  Massachusetts,  but  I  cannot  forget  my  brethren  here. 
I  cannot  forget  my  children  too,  who  were  born  here  and 
by  the  blessings  of  God  and  your  help  I  will  leave  to  them 

415 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  their  children  a  freer  and  better  Massachusetts  even 
than  I  have  found  her. 

"Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty." 

I  want  upon  this  day  to  remind  Massachusetts  of  her 
old  ideals  of  liberty,  justice,  equality  for  all  beneath  her 
pure  white  flag.  Laws,  customs,  institutions  are  nothing 
unless  behind  them  stands  a  vital,  living,  throbbing  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  their  enforcement  in  the  spirit  as 
well  as  in  the  letter.  My  friends,  unless  we  can  stay  the 
rising  tide  of  prejudice;  unless  we  can  hark  back  to  our 
old  ideals  and  old  faiths,  our  very  statues  and  memorials 
will  some  day  mock  us  and  cry  shame  upon  us. 

National  Emancipation  was  the  culmination  of  a 
moral  revolution,  such  as  the  world  has  never  seen.  It 
was  not  as  Garrison  intended,  a  peaceful  revolution,  the 
unanimous  verdict  of  an  awakened  national  conscience. 
Thirty  years  of  fierce  agitation  and  fiercer  politics  made 
an  appeal  to  arms  absolutely  certain.  A  conflict  of  arms 
brought  on  by  a  conflict  of  opinion  was  bound  to  be  fol 
lowed  by  a  conflict  of  opinion,  whichever  side  won.  So 
for  fifty  years  since  Emancipation,  there  has  been  more  or 
less  conflict  over  the  Negro  and  his  place  in  the  Republic. 
The  results  of  that  conflict  have  in  many  instances  been 
oppressive  and  even  disastrous  to  his  freedom.  Many 
things  incidental  to  Emancipation  and  vital  to  complete 
freedom  are  unfortunately  still  in  the  controversial  stages. 
The  right  of  the  Negro  to  cast  a  ballot  on  the  same 
qualifications  as  his  other  fellow  citizens  is  not  yet  con 
ceded  everywhere.  Public  sentiment  has  not  yet  caught 

416 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

up  with  the  Constitution,  nor  is  it  in  accord  with  the 
principles  of  true  democracy.  The  right  of  the  Negro  to 
free  access  to  all  public  places  and  to  exact  similar  treat 
ment  therein  is  not  universal  in  this  country.  He  is 
segregated  by  law  in  some  sections;  he  is  segregated  by 
custom  in  others.  He  is  subjected  to  many  petty  annoy 
ances  and  injustices  and  of ttimes  deep  humiliation  solely 
on  account  of  his  color. 

The  explanation  of  this  reactionary  tendency  some 
times  given  is  that  the  Negro  is  only  a  generation  from 
slavery.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  individuals  of 
every  other  race  in  history  have  at  some  time  been  held 
slaves.  The  bondage  of  Israel  is  to-day  only  an  epic 
poem.  The  Greek  Slave  adorns  simply  a  niche  in  some 
palace  of  art.  The  Servii  of  Rome  instructed  the  masters 
of  the  world.  The  Anglo-Saxon  has  not  only  worn  the 
Roman  and  Norman  collars,  but  individuals  of  that  race 
were  sold  as  slaves  in  the  West  Indies  as  late  as  the  seven 
teenth  century.  White  men  have  enslaved  white  men, 
black  men  have  enslaved  black  men.  The  place  of  human 
slavery  in  the  divine  economy  I  do  not  understand,  nor  do 
I  defend  it;  I  am  glad  that  the  human  race  has  long  since 
passed  that  stage  in  its  development.  No  race  has  a  right 
to  lord  it  over  another  or  seek  to  degrade  it  because  of  a 
history  of  servitude;  all  have  passed  through  this  cruel 
experience;  the  history  of  the  black  race  is  a  little  more 
recent,  that  is  all.  The  fact  of  slavery,  therefore,  should 
not  impose  the  slightest  limitation  upon  the  liberty  of  the 
Negro  or  restriction  upon  his  rights  as  a  man  and  citizen. 

417 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

The  one  great  phase  of  the  race  question  agitating  the 
country  to-day  is  that  of  intermarriage  and  miscegenation. 
It  is  a  serious  question;  it  is  a  vital  question.  No  one  will 
deny  the  right  of  any  man  to  protect  his  family  stock,  or 
the  right  of  a  group  to  preserve  its  racial  integrity.  The 
facts  show,  however,  that  laws,  however  stringent,  will  not 
accomplish  it.  I  submit  for  the  serious  consideration  of  the 
American  people  that  the  only  danger  of  infusion  from 
the  Negro  side  is  simply  one  thing,  and  that  is  summed 
up  in  one  word  "injustice."  Why  is  it  that  thou 
sands  of  colored  men  and  women  go  over  to  the  other  side, 
"pass"  as  we  say?  It  is  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
escape  the  social  ostracism  and  civic  disabilities  of  the 
Negro.  Why  is  it  that  we  see  so  many  pathetic  attempts 
to  be  white?  It  is  simply  to  escape  injustice.  In  a 
country  where  every  opportunity  is  open  to  the  white,  in 
business,  in  society,  in  government,  and  the  door  shut 
against  or  reluctantly  opened  to  the  black,  the  natural 
unconscious  effort  of  the  black  is  to  get  white.  Where 
black  is  a  badge  of  an  inferior  caste  position  in  society, 
the  natural  effort  of  the  black  is  to  find  some  method  of 
escape.  I  do  not  advocate  intermarriage;  I  do  not  defend 
miscegenation.  The  same  thing  is  true  to-day  as  it  was 
true  in  the  time  of  Lincoln.  In  his  debates  with  Douglas 
in  1858,  he  noted  "that  among  the  free  States,  those  which 
make  the  colored  man  the  nearest  equal  to  the  white  have 
proportionally  the  fewest  mulattoes,  the  least  amalgama 
tion." 

I  submit  therefore,  that  the  only  sure  way  to  put  an 
end  to  this  tendency  or  desire,  so  far  as  the  Negro  is 

418 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

concerned,  is  to  accord  him  all  his  public  and  political 
rights  and  to  treat  each  individual  upon  his  merits  as  a 
man  and  citizen,  according  to  him  such  recognition  as  his 
talents,  his  genius,  his  services  to  the  community  or  the 
state  entitles  him.  Make  black,  brown,  yellow,  the 
"open  sesame"  to  the  same  privileges  and  the  same  op 
portunities  as  the  white,  and  no  one  will  care  to  become 
white. 

Upon  this  day  which  commemorates  the  emancipation 
of  the  black  and  the  larger  freedom  of  the  white  race,  the 
redemption  of  the  state  and  the  birth  of  a  new  nation,  I 
would  bring  to  you  a  message  not  of  blackness  and  despair 
but  of  hope — hope  triumphant,  hope,  that  Watts  has 
pictured  .as  blind  with  one  string  to  her  lyre,  that  sees  not 
the  star  just  ahead,  but  sits  supreme  at  the  top  of  the 
world. 

Emancipation  redeemed  the  precious  promises  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  rid  the  Republic  of  its 
one  great  inconsistency,  a  government  of  the  people 
resting  upon  despotism;  it  rescued  the  ship  of  state  from 
the  rocks  of  slavery  and  sectionalism,  and  set  her  with 
sails  full  and  chart  and  compass  true  once  more  upon  the 
broad  ocean  of  humanity  to  lead  the  world  to  the  haven 
of  true  human  brotherhood.  We  have  encountered 
storms  and  tempests  at  times;  the  waves  of  race  antipathy 
have  run  high,  and  the  political  exigencies  of  the  hour 
seem  to  overcast  the  heavens  with  clouds  of  darkness  and 
despair,  yet  I  have  never  lost  faith,  because  the  fathers 
set  her  course,  and  God,  the  Master  Mariner,  has  ever 
been  at  the  helm.  "In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we 

419 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

insured  freedom  to  the  free. "  In  a  country  where  all  men 
were  free  none  could  be  slaves.  Emancipation  raised 
labor  to  its  true  dignity  and  gave  a  new  impetus  to  in 
dustry,  commerce,  and  civilization.  Under  free  labor 
men  of  many  climes  have  come  here  to  help  develop  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country,  and  the  nation  has 
entered  upon  a  period  of  progress  such  as  the  world  has 
never  before  witnessed  in  any  time  or  place. 

What  of  the  Negro  himself?  Has  he  justified  Emanci 
pation?  The  statistics  of  his  physical,  intellectual,  and 
material  progress  are  known  to  all.  He  has  increased  his 
numbers  nearly  threefold.  The  Negro  population  is  to 
day  nearly  three  times  that  of  the  whole  country  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  It  is  nearly 
three  times  that  of  New  England  in  1860.  He  has  reduced 
his  illiteracy  to  thirty  per  cent.  He  owns  nearly  $700,000, 
ooo  worth  of  property  including  nearly  one  million  homes. 
He  has  shown  that  his  tutelage  in  American  civilization 
has  not  been  vain;  that  he  could  live  under  the  most  trying 
and  oppressive  conditions. 

Three  milestones  in  his  progress  have  been  reached 
and  passed: 

First:  The  North  and  South  agree  that  the  abolition 
of  slavery  was  right  and  just. 

Second:  The  people  of  the  North  and  South  agree 
that  every  industrial  opportunity  shall  be  given  to  the 
Negro. 

Third:  The  right  of  the  Negro  to  be  educated  and  the 
duty  of  the  state  to  see  to  it  that  he  has  every  opportunity 
for  education  are  established.  Public  opinion  has  settled 

420 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

forever  the  right  of  the  Negro  to  be  free  to  labor  and  to 
educate.  These  three  things  constitute  no  slight  advance; 
they  are  the  fundamental  rights  of  civilization. 

The  prophecy  of  Lincoln  has  been  fulfilled,  that 
Emancipation  would  be  "An  Act,  which  the  world  will 
forever  applaud  and  God  must  forever  bless. "  Moreover 
it  should  not  be  forgotten,  as  Bancroft  the  historian  has 
said,  that  "  it  is  in  part  to  the  aid  of  the  Negro  in  freedom 
that  the  country  owes  its  success,  in  its  movement  of 
regeneration — that  the  world  of  mankind  owes  the  contin 
uance  of  the  United  States  as  an  example  of  a  Republic. " 
The  American  Negro  in  freedom  has  brought  new  prestige 
and  glory  to  his  country  in  many  ways.  Tanner,  a 
Georgia  boy,  is  no  longer  a  Negro  artist,  but  an  American 
artist  whose  works  adorn  the  galleries  of  the  world.  Paul 
Laurence  Dunbar,  an  American  poet,  who  singing  songs 
of  his  race,  voicing  its  sorrows  and  griefs  with  unrivalled 
lyric  sweetness  and  purity,  has  caught  the  ear  of  the 
world.  The  matchless  story  of  Booker  Washington,  the 
American  educator,  is  told  in  many  tongues  and  in  many 
lands. 

The  history  of  the  world  has  no  such  chapter  as  the 
Negro's  fifty  years  of  freedom.  The  duty  of  the  hour  is  to 
unshackle  him  and  make  him  wholly  free.  When  the  Negro 
is  free  from  the  vexatious  annoyances  of  color  and  has 
only  the  same  problems  of  life  as  any  other  men,  his  con 
tribution  to  the  general  welfare  of  his  country  will  be 
greater  than  ever  before. 

Whatever  be  his  present  disadvantages  and  inequal 
ities,  one  thing  is  absolutely  certain,  that  nowhere  else  in 

421 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  world  does  so  large  a  number  of  people  of  African 
descent  enjoy  so  many  rights  and  privileges  as  here  in 
America.  God  has  not  placed  these  10,000,000  here  upon 
the  American  Continent  in  the  American  Republic  for 
naught.  There  must  be  some  work  for  them  to  do.  He 
has  given  to  each  race  some  particular  part  to  play  in  our 
great  national  drama.  I  predict  that  within  the  next 
fifty  years  all  these  discriminations,  disfranchisements, 
and  segregation  will  pass  away.  Antipathy  to  color  is  not 
natural,  and  the  fear  of  ten  by  eighty  millions  of  people  is 
only  a  spook  of  politics,  a  ghost  summoned  to  the  banquet 
to  frighten  the  timid  and  foolish. 

I  care  nothing  for  the  past;  I  look  beyond  the  present; 
I  see  a  great  country  with  her  territories  stretching  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  sun,  with  a  climate  as  varied  as  a 
tropical  day  and  an  Arctic  night,  with  a  soil  blessed  by  the 
fruits  of  the  earth  and  nourished  by  the  waters  under  it; 
I  see  a  great  country  tenanted  by  untold  millions  of  happy, 
healthy  human  beings;  men  of  every  race  that  God  has 
made  out  of  one  blood  to  inherit  the  earth,  a  great  human 
family,  governed  by  righteousness  and  justice,  not  by 
greed  and  fear — in  which  peace  and  happiness  shall  reign 
supreme. 

Men  more  and  more  are  beginning  to  realize  that  the 
common  origin  and  destiny  of  the  human  race  give  to  each 
species  the  right  to  occupy  the  earth  in  peace,  prosperity, 
and  plenty,  and  that  the  duty  of  each  race  is  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  all.  The  movements  for  social  and  in 
dustrial  justice  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  rule  are 
world-wide. 

422 


WILLIAM  H.  LEWIS 

The  American  people  are  fast  losing  their  provincial 
character.  They  are  to-day  a  great  world  power  with 
interests  and  possessions  upon  every  part  of  the  globe. 
Their  horizon  is  the  world;  they  are  thinking  in  terms  of 
the  universe,  and  speaking  in  the  tongues  of  all  men. 

With  the  widening  of  men's  visions  they  must  realize 
that  the  basis  of  true  democracy  and  human  brotherhood 
is  the  common  origin  and  destiny  of  the  human  race;  that 
we  are  all  born  alike,  live  alike,  and  die  alike,  that  the  laws 
of  man's  existence  make  absolutely  no  distinction. 

I  wandered  recently  into  Westminster  Abbey.  I  be 
held  all  around  me  the  images  and  effigies  of  the  illustrious 
and  the  great, — kings,  rulers,  statesmen,  poets,  patriots, 
explorers,  and  scientists;  I  trampled  upon  the  graves  of 
some;  I  stood  before  the  tombs  of  kings,  some  dead 
twelve  centuries;  there  the  wisest  and  merriest  of  mon- 
archs  and  the  most  pious  and  dissolute  o'f  kings  slept  side 
by  side.  As  illustrating  the  vanity  of  triumphs  of  personal 
glory,  on  one  side  of  the  Chapel  of  Henry  VII,  rests  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  almost  directly  opposite,  all  that 
remains  of  Elizabeth,  her  executioner.  I  stood  before  the 
tomb  of  the  great  Napoleon;  I  wandered  through  his 
palaces  at  Versailles  and  Fontainebleau  with  all  of  their 
magnificence  and  splendor,  and  I  recalled  the  period  of 
his  power  and  glory  among  men,  and  yet,  he  too  died. 
Then  I  passed  a  Potter's  field  and  I  looked  upon  the 
graves  of  the  unknown,  graves  of  the  pauper  and  the 
pleb,  and  I  realized  that  they  were  at  last  equal,  those 
who  slept  in  Valhalla  and  those  who  slept  in  the  common 
burying-ground,  and  that  they  would  each  and  all  hear 

423 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

the  first  or  the  second  trump  of  the  resurrection  "accord 
ing  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body  and  the  flesh,  according 
to  whether  they  were  good  or  evil. "  In  the  democracy  of 
death  all  are  equal.  Then  men,  my  brothers,  our  duty  is 
to  make  life  in  human  society  the  same  great  democracy 
of  equality  of  rights,  of  privileges,  of  opportunities,  for  all 
the  children  of  men.  There  is  nothing  else  worth  while. 

God  grant  to  the  American  people  this  larger  view  of 
humanity,  this  greater  conception  of  human  duty.  In  a 
movement  for  democracy,  for  social  and  industrial  justice, 
for  the  complete  Emancipation  of  the  Negro  from  the 
disabilities  of  color,  Massachusetts  must  now,  as  in  the 
past,  point  the  way.  If  we  fail  here,  with  traditions  and 
history  such  as  are  ours  behind  us,  can  we  succeed  else 
where?  The  Great  Emancipator  speaks  to  us  at  this  hour 
and  furnishes  the  solution  for  all  our  race  problems. 
"Let  us  discard  all  this  quibbling  about  this  man  and  the 
other  man,  this  race  and  the  other  race,  and  the  other  race 
being  inferior  and  therefore  must  be  placed  in  an  inferior 
position.  Let  us  discard  all  these  things  and  unite  as  one 
people  throughout  this  land,  until  we  shall  once  more 
stand  up  declaring  that  'all  men  are  created  equal."1 

God  grant  that  the  American  people,  year  by  year, 
may  grow  more  like  Lincoln  in  charity,  justice,  and 
righteousness  to  the  end  that  "the  government  of  the 
people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth. " 


424 


THE  LIFE  OF  SOCIAL  SERVICE  AS  EXEM 
PLIFIED  IN  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE* 

BY  ALICE  MOORE  DUNBAR 

Hamilton  Wright  Mabie  says  that  the  question  for 
each  man  to  settle  is  not  what  he  would  do  if  he  had 
means,  time,  influence,  and  educational  advantages,  but 
what  he  will  do  with  the  things  he  has.  In  all  history 
there  are  few  men  who  have  answered  this  question. 
Among  them  none  have  answered  it  more  effectively 
than  he  whom  we  have  gathered  to  honor  to-night — 
David  Livingstone. 

The  term  "social  service,"  which  is  on  every  one's 
lips  now,  was  as  yet  uncoined  when  David  Livingstone 
was  born.  But  it  was  none  the  less  true,  that  without 
overmuch  prating  of  the  ideal  which  is  held  up  to  the 
man  of  to-day  as  the  only  one  worth  striving  for,  the 
sturdy  pioneers  of  Livingstone's  day  and  ilk  realized  to 
the  highest  the  ideal  of  man's  duty  to  his  fellow-man. 

The  life  of  David  Livingstone  is  familiar  to  all  of  you. 
From  your  childhood  you  have  known  the  brief  data  of 
his  days.  He  was  born  in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  March 
19,  1813.  He  began  working  in  a  cotton-factory  at  the 
age  of  ten,  and  for  ten  years  thence,  educated  himself, 


*Delivered  at  Lincoln  University,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Centenary  of  the  birth  of  David  Livingstone,  March  7,  1913. 

425 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

reading  Latin,  Greek,  and  finally  pursuing  a  course  of 
medicine  and  theology  in  which  he  graduated.  In  1840, 
firmly  believing  in  his  call,  he  offered  his  services  to  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  by  whom  he  was  ordained, 
and  sent  as  a  medical  missionary  to  South  Africa,  where 
he  commenced  his  labors.  In  1849,  ne  discovered  Lake 
Ngami;  in  1852,  he  explored  the  Zambesi  River.  In 
1856,  he  discovered  the  wonderful  Victoria  Falls,  and 
then  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  overwhelmed 
with  honors.  In  1857,  he  published  his  first  book,  hardly 
realizing  that  it  was  an  epoch-making  volume,  and  that 
he  had  made  an  unprecedented  contribution  alike  to 
literature,  science,  and  religion.  In  the  same  year,  he 
severed  his  connection  with  the  Missionary  society,  be 
lieving  that  he  could  best  work  unhampered  by  its  restric 
tions.  He  was  appointed  British  Consul  for  the  East 
Coast  of  Africa,  and  commander  of  an  expedition  to 
explore  Eastern  and  Central  Africa.  He  discovered  the 
Lakes  Shirwa  and  Nyassa  in  1859;  published  his  second 
book  during  a  visit  to  England,  1864-65.  He  returned 
to  Africa,  started  to  explore  the  interior,  and  was  lost  to 
the  world  for  two  years.  He  re-appeared  in  1867,  having 
solved  the  problem  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile.  From  then 
until  1871,  when  he  was  found  by  Stanley,  suffering  the 
most  pitiful  privations,  his  was  a  record  of  important 
discoveries  and  explorations.  After  parting  with  Stanley 
in  1872,  he  continued  his  explorations,  and  died  in  1873. 
His  body  was  interred  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  1874. 

This  is  a  meagre  account  of  the  life  of  David  Living 
stone.    The  romance  and  wonder  of  it  do  not  appear  on 

426 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

the  surface;  the  splendor  of  the  heroic  soul  is  lost  in  the 
dry  chronology  of  dates;  the  marvelous  achievement  of 
self-sacrifice  is  not  visible.  Yet  the  wildest  fantasies 
of  medieval  troubadours  pale  into  insignificance  when 
placed  side  by  side  with  the  life-story  of  David  Living 
stone. 

What  has  this  modern  romance  in  it  for  the  man  of 
to-day?  An  infinity  of  example,  of  hope,  of  the  gleam 
to  follow.  The  most  salient  thing  about  Livingstone's 
early  life  is  the  toil  and  the  privation  which  he  endured 
gladly,  in  order  to  accomplish  that  which  he  had  set 
himself  to  do.  Listen  to  his  own  words  in  describing  the 
long  hours  spent  in  the  cotton-mill.  Here  he  kept  up 
his  studies  by  placing  his  book  on  the  top  of  the  machine, 
so  that  he  could  catch  sentence  after  sentence  as  he  passed 
his  work,  learning  how  completely  to  abstract  his  mind 
from  the  noises  about  him.  "Looking  back  now  on  that 
life  of  toil,  I  cannot  but  feel  thankful  that  it  formed  such 
a  material  part  of  my  early  education,  and  were  it  pos 
sible,  I  would  like  to  begin  life  over  again  in  the  same 
lowly  style,  and  to  pass  through  the  same  hardy  training." 

I  wonder  how  many  of  the  modern  men,  whose  priva 
tions  in  early  life  in  no  wise  approached  those  of  our  hero 
look  back  with  gratitude  upon  their  early  days?  Are  we 
not  prone  to  excuse  and  condone  our  shortcomings,  either 
of  character  or  of  achievement,  by  murmuring  at  the 
hard  fate  which  deprived  us  of  those  advantages  which 
more  fortunate  brothers  and  sisters  enjoyed  in  infancy 
and  youth?  Do  we  not  to-day  swing  too  far  in  the  direc 
tion  of  sickly  sentimentality  and  incline  to  wrap  our- 

427 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

selves,  and  those  about  us,  in  the  deadening  cotton-wool 
of  too  much  care?  Were  it  not  better  if  a  bit  more  of  the 
leaven  of  sturdy  struggle  were  introduced  into  the  life 
of  the  present-day  youth?  Strength  of  character  and 
strength  of  soul  will  rise  to  their  own,  no  matter  what  the 
struggles  be  to  force  them  upward. 

In  keeping  with  this  studious  concentration  which  is 
shown  in  his  work  in  the  cotton-mill,  was  Livingstone's 
ideal  of  thorough  preparation  for  his  work.  On  his  first 
missionary  journey,  before  penetrating  into  the  interior, 
he  stopped  at  a  little  station,  Lepelole,  and  there  for  six 
months  cut  himself  off  from  all  European  society  in  order 
to  gain  an  insight  into  the  habits,  ways  of  thinking,  laws, 
and  language  of  the  natives.  To  this  he  ascribed  most 
of  his  success  as  a  missionary  and  explorer,  for  Living 
stone's  way  was  ever  the  gentle  method  of  those  who 
comprehend — not  the  harsh  cruelty  of  those  who  feel 
superior  to  the  ones  among  whom  they  work.  In  a  day 
whose  superficiality  is  only  equalled  by  the  ease  with 
which  we  gloze  over  the  faults  of  the  unprepared,  this 
bit  of  information  of  Livingstone's  preparation  comes 
like  a  refreshing  reminder  that  true  worth  is  always 
worth  while. 

When  Livingstone  gave  up  his  purely  missionary 
labors  and  turned  his  life  channel  into  the  stream  of 
scientific  investigation,  the  same  thoroughness  of  prepa 
ration  is  shown.  He  did  not  work  for  immediate  results, 
attained  by  shallow  touching  of  the  surface,  or  for  hasty 
conclusions.  His  was  the  close  observation  and  careful 
and  accurate  deductions  of  the  mind  trained  by  science 

428 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

to  be  patient  and  await  results.  Rather  than  be  inaccu 
rate,  he  would  wait  until  he  knew  he  was  correct.  A 
quarter  of  a  century  after  Livingstone  died  a  compatriot 
of  his,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  said  that  among  the 
hardest  tasks  that  life  sets  for  a  man  is  "to  await  occa 
sions,  and  hurry  never."  Livingstone  learned  this 
thoroughly. 

In  keeping  with  the  quietness,  simplicity,  and  thor 
oughness  of  this  truly  great  man  was  the  meeting  between 
him  and  Stanley  when  that  redoubtable  youth  found  him 
in  the  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent.  Life  is  essentially 
a  dramatic  thing,  for  as  Carlyle  says,  "Is  not  every  death 
bed  the  fifth  act  of  a  tragedy?"  But  I  sometimes  think 
that  we  miss  the  drama  and  poetry  of  every-day  life 
because  it  seems  so  commonplace.  We  look  abroad  and 
afar  for  great  moments,  and  great  moments  pass  unheeded 
each  hour.  So  to  those  two — the  toil-worn  and  weary 
explorer  and  the  youthful  Stanley,  full  of  enthusiasm, 
albeit  dimmed  by  the  hardships  and  disappointments 
of  his  long  search,  that  moment  of  first  meeting  must 
have  seemed  essentially  commonplace.  There  was  a 
wonder  in  the  encounter,  but  like  all  great  emotions  and 
great  occasions  there  was  a  simplicity,  so  that  the  greet 
ings  were  as  commonplace  as  if  occurring  in  a  crowded 
street.  Thirty  years  had  passed  since  the  explorer  had 
dedicated  himself  to  the  task  of  making  the  world  know 
Africa,  and  he  was  an  old  man,  worn-out,  bent,  frail,  and 
sorrow-stricken.  But  courage  was  unfaltering,  faith  un- 
dimmed,  power  unabated.  Had  Stanley  been  a  few 
months  later,  much  of  his  work  would  have  been  lost, 

429 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

and  his  death  even  more  pitiful  than  it  was — yet  he  could 
smile  and  be  patient  and  unhurried. 

As  Stanley  phrases  it,  "Suppose  Livingstone,  fol 
lowing  the  custom  of  other  travellers,  had  hurried  to  the 
coast,  after  he  had  discovered  Lake  Bangweolo,  to  tell 
the  news  to  the  geographical  world;  then  had  returned 
to  discover  Moero,  and  run  away  again,  then  come  back 
once  more  to  discover  Kamolondo,  and  to  race  back 
again.  But  no,  he  not  only  discovers  the  Chambezi, 
Lake  Bangweolo,  Luapula  River,  Lake  Moero,  Lualaba 
River,  and  Lake  Kamolondo,  but  he  still  tirelessly  urges 
his  steps  forward  to  put  the  final  completion  to  the  map 
of  the  grand  lacustrine  river  system.  Had  he  followed 
the  example  of  ordinary  explorers,  he  would  have  been 
running  backwards  and  forwards  to  tell  the  news,  instead 
of  exploring,  and  he  might  have  been  able  to  write  a  vol 
ume  upon  the  discovery  of  each  lake  and  earn  much 
money  thereby." 

This  was  no  negative  exploration.  It  was  the  hard, 
earnest  labor  of  years,  self-abnegation,  enduring  patience, 
and  exalted  fortitude,  such  as  ordinary  men  fail  to  ex 
hibit.  And  he  had  achieved  a  wonderful  deed.  The 
finding  of  the  poles,  north  and  south,  is  no  greater  feat 
than  his.  For,  after  all,  what  is  it  to  humanity  that  the 
magnetic  pole,  north  or  south,  is  a  few  degrees  east  or 
west  of  a  certain  point  in  the  frozen  seas  and  barren  ice 
mountains?  What  can  humanity  offer  as  a  reward  to 
those  whose  bodies  lie  under  cairns  of  ice  save  a  barren 
recognition  of  their  heroism?  What  have  their  lives 
served,  beyond  that  of  examples  of  heroism  and  deter- 

430 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

mination?  Bronze  tablets  will  record  their  deeds,  but 
no  races  will  arise  in  future  years  to  call  them  blessed. 
Cold  marble  will  enshrine  their  memory;  but  there  will 
be  no  fair  commerce,  nor  civilization,  nor  the  thankful 
prayers  of  those  who  have  been  led  to  know  God. 

In  his  earlier  years  of  exploration,  Livingstone  became 
convinced  that  the  success  of  the  white  missionary  in  a 
field  like  Africa  is  not  to  be  reckoned  by  the  tale  of 
doubtful  conversions  he  can  send  home  each  year,  that 
the  proper  work  of  such  men  was  that  of  pioneering, 
opening  up,  starting  new  ground,  leaving  native  agents 
to  work  it  out  in  detail.  The  whole  of  his  subsequent 
career  was  a  carrying  out  of  this  idea.  It  was  the  idea 
of  commerce,  bringing  the  virgin  country  within  the 
reach  of  the  world,  putting  the  natives  in  that  relation 
to  the  rest  of  humanity  which  would  most  nearly  make 
for  their  efficiency,  if  not  in  their  own  generation,  at  least 
in  the  next.  Shall  we  not  say  that  this  is  the  truest 
ideal  of  social  service — to  plan,  not  for  the  present,  but 
for  the  future;  to  be  content,  not  with  the  barren  achieve 
ment  of  exploration,  the  satisfaction  that  comes  with  the 
saying,  "I  am  the  first  who  has  trod  this  soil!"  but  to  be 
able  to  say,  "Through  me,  generations  may  be  helped?" 

Says  a  biographer  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  "His  work  in 
exploration  is  marked  by  rare  precision  and  by  a  breadth 
of  observation  which  will  make  it  forever  a  monument 
to  the  name  of  one  of  the  most  intrepid  travellers  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  His  activity  embraced  the  field  of 
the  geographer,  naturalist,  benefactor  of  mankind,  and 

431 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

it  can  justly  be  said  that  his  labors  were  the  first  to  lift 
the  veil  from  the  'Dark  Continent/  " 

During  the  thirty  years  of  his  work  he  explored  alone 
over  one- third  of  the  vast  continent;  a  feat  which  no 
single  explorer  has  ever  equalled.  But  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  even  though  he  had  severed  his  connection 
with  the  missionary  society  that  he  regarded  himself  to 
the  last  as  a  "Pioneer  Missionary." 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  subjects  of  controversy 
since  the  time  of  Herodotus  was  the  problem  of  the 
source  of  the  Nile.  Poetry,  from  the  description  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden  and  the  writings  of  Ptolemy  to  the  Kubla 
Kahn  of  Coleridge,  ran  rife  over  the  four  fountains  out 
of  which  flowed  the  wonderful  river.  To  Livingstone 
was  reserved  the  supreme  honor  of  settling  for  all  time 
the  secret  of  this  most  poetic  river  of  mystery.  Long 
ere  this  he  had  been  honored  with  a  gold  medal  from  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society.  How  futile  must  the  bit  of 
metal  have  seemed  to  this  dark,  silent  man,  whose  mind 
had  grown  away  from  bauble  and  tinsel,  and  who  had 
learned  in  the  silences  the  real  value  of  the  trinkets  of  the 
world. 

When  he  had  discovered  the  Victoria  Falls,  he  had 
completed  in  two  years  and  a  half  the  most  remarkable 
and  most  fruitful  journey  on  record,  reconstructed  the 
map  of  Africa,  and  given  the  world  some  of  the  most 
valuable  land  it  ever  could  possess.  The  vast  commer 
cial  fields  of  ivory  were  opened  up  to  trade;  the  magnifi 
cent  power  of  the  Victoria  Falls  laid  bare  to  the  sight  of 
civilized  man.  We  can  imagaine  him  standing  on  the 

432 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

brink  of  the  thunderous  cataract  of  the  Victoria  gazing 
at  its  waters  as  they  dashed  and  roared  over  the  brink 
of  the  precipice, 

" — Like  stout  Cortez — when  with  eagle  eyes 
He  stared  at  the  Pacific,  and  all  his  men 
Look'd  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise, 
Silent,  upon  a  peak  in  Darien." 

To  this  man,  who  had  opened  up  a  continent;  who 
had  penetrated  not  only  into  the  heart  of  the  forest,  but 
had  made  himself  one  with  the  savages  who  were  its 
denizens;  who  knew  and  understood  them  as  human 
beings,  and  not  as  beasts,  the  slavery  trade  was,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "the  open  sore  of  Africa."  Over  and  again 
he  voiced  his  belief  that  the  Negro  freeman  was  a  hundred 
time  more  valuable  than  the  slave.  He  repeatedly  en 
joined  those  who  had  the  fitting  out  of  his  expeditions 
not  to  send  him  slaves  to  accompany  him  on  his  journeys, 
but  freemen,  as  they  were  more  trustworthy.  He  voiced 
the  fundamental  truth  that  he  who  is  his  own  master  is 
he  who  obeys  and  believes  in  his  master. 

The  slave  trade  in  Africa  was  dealt  its  death-blow  by 
Dr.  Livingstone.  Portugal  had  foisted  the  shame  of 
centuries  upon  the  Dark  Continent,  and  openly  defied 
decency  and  honor.  Livingstone's  example  and  his 
death  acted  like  an  inspiration,  filling  Africa  with  an 
army  of  explorers  and  missionaries,  and  raising  in  Europe 
so  powerful  a  feeling  against  the  slave  trade  that  it  may 
be  considered  as  having  received  its  death-blow.  Dear 
to  his  heart  was  Lincoln,  the  Emancipator,  an  ideal  hero 
whom  he  consistently  revered.  Away  to  the  southwest 

433 


MASTERPIECES  OP  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

from  Kamolondo  is  a  large  lake  which  discharges  its 
waters  by  the  important  river,  Lomami,  into  the  great 
Lualaba.  To  this  lake,  known  as  the  Chobungo  by  the 
natives,  Dr.  Livingstone  gave  the  name  of  Lincoln,  in 
memory  of  him  for  whom  your  noble  institution  was 
named.  This  was  done  because  of  a  vivid  impression 
produced  on  his  mind  by  hearing  a  portion  of  Lincoln's 
inauguration  speech  from  an  English  pulpit,  which  related 
to  the  causes  that  induced  him  to  issue  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  To  the  memory  of  the  man  whom  Liv 
ingstone  revered  he  has  contributed  a  monument  more 
durable  than  brass  or  stone. 

This  strange,  seemingly  almost  ascetic  man  sets  before 
us  of  to-day  an  almost  impossible  standard  of  living. 
One  idea  mastered  him — to  give  Africa  to  the  world. 
His  life  was  a  success,  as  all  lives  must  be  which  have 
a  single  aim.  Life  was  clear,  elemental  almost  to  him, 
and  to  the  man  whose  ambition  is  a  unit;  who  sees  but 
one  goal,  shining  clearly  ahead,  success  is  inevitable, 
though  it  may  be  masked  under  the  guise  of  poverty 
and  hardship.  Livingstone  had  a  higher  and  nobler 
ambition  than  the  mere  pecuniary  sum  he  might  receive, 
or  the  plaudits  of  the  unthinking  multitude;  he  followed 
the  dictates  of  duty.  Never  was  such  a  willing  slave 
to  that  abstract  virtue.  His  inclination  impelled  him 
home,  the  fascinations  of  which  it  required  the  sternest 
resolves  to  resist.  With  every  foot  of  new  ground  he 
travelled  over,  he  forged  a  chain  of  sympathy  which 
should  hereafter  bind  all  other  nations  to  Africa.  If  he 
were  able  to  complete  this  chain,  a  chain  of  love,  by  actual 

434 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

discovery  and  description  of  the  people  and  nations  that 
still  lived  in  darkness,  so  as  to  attract  the  good  and  chari 
table  of  his  own  land  to  bestir  themselves  for  their 
redemption  and  salvation — this,  Livingstone  would  con 
sider  an  ample  reward.  "A  delirious  and  fatuous  enter 
prise,  a  Quixotic  scheme!"  some  will  say.  Not  so;  he 
builded  better  than  even  he  knew  or  dared  hope,  and 
posterity  will  reap  the  reward. 

The  missionary  starting  out  must  resolve  to  bear 
poverty,  suffering,  hardship,  and,  if  need  be,  to  lose  his 
life.  The  explorer  must  resolve  to  be  impervious  to 
exquisite  little  tortures,  to  forget  comforts,  and  be  a 
stranger  to  luxuries;  to  lose  his  life,  even,  in  order  that 
the  world  may  add  another  line  or  dot  to  its  maps.  The 
explorer-missionary  must  do  all  these  things,  and  add 
to  them  the  zeal  for  others  that  shall  illumine  his  labors, 
and  make  him  at  one  with  God.  David  Livingstone  had 
all  these  qualities,  coupled  with  the  sublime  indifference 
of  the  truly  great  to  the  mere  side  issues  of  life.  'You 
and  I  sit  down  to  our  comfortable  meals,  sleep  in  our 
well-appointed  beds,  read  our  Bibles  with  perfunctory 
boredom,  and  babble  an  occasional  prayer  for  those  who 
endure  hardships — when  we  are  reminded  from  the 
pulpit  to  do  so.  When  we  read  of  some  awful  calamity, 
such  as  has  blazoned  across  the  pages  of  history  within 
the  past  few  weeks,  we  shudder  that  men  should  lay 
down  their  lives  in  the  barren  wastes  of  ice.  When  we 
read  of  the  thirty  years  of  steady  suffering  which  Liv 
ingstone  endured  in  the  forests  of  Africa,  the  littleness 
of  our  own  lives  comes  home  to  us  with  awful  realization. 

435 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

You  who  fear  to  walk  the  streets  with  a  coat  of  last  year's 
cut,  listen  to  his  half  whimsical  account  of  how  he  "came 
to  the  Cape  in  1852,  with  a  black  coat  eleven  years  out 
of  fashion,  and  Mrs.  Livingstone  and  the  children  half 
naked."    You  who  shudder  at  the  tale  of  a  starving  child 
in  the  papers,  and  lamely  wonder  why  the  law  allows 
such  things,  read  his  recital  of  the  sufferings  of  his  wife 
and  little  ones  during  the  days  without  water  under  a 
tropic  sun,  and  of  the  splendid  heroism  of  the  mother 
who  did  not  complain,  and  the  father  who  did  not  dare 
meet  her  eye,  for  fear  of  the  unspoken  reproach  therein. 
He  was  never  in  sufficient  funds,  and  what  lit  tie  means 
he  could  gather  here  and  there  were  often  stolen  from  him, 
or  he  found  himself  cheated  out  of  what  few  supplies  he 
could  get  together  to  carry  on  his  travels.     Months  of 
delay  occurred,  and  sometimes  it  seemed  that  all  his 
labors  and  struggles  would  end  in  futility;  that  the  world 
would  be  little  better  for  his  sufferings;  yet  that  patient, 
Christian  fortitude  sustained  him  with  unfaltering  courage 
through    the    most    distressing    experiences.      Disease, 
weakening,   piteous,   unromantic,  unheroic,   wasted  his 
form;     ulcers,    sores,   horrible  and  hideous,   made  his 
progress  slow  and  his  work  sometimes  a  painful  struggle 
over  what  many  a  man  would  have  deemed  impossible 
barriers.     The  loss  of  his  wife  came  to  him  twelve  years 
after  she  had  elected  to  cast  in  her  lot  with  his,  but  like 
Brutus  of  old,  he  could  exclaim, 

"With  meditating  that  she  must  die  once, 
I  have  the  patience  to  endure  it  now. 
436 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

Stanley  could  but  marvel  at  such  patience.  On  that 
memorable  day  when  they  met,  and  the  younger  man  gave 
the  doctor  his  letters,  he  tells  how  "Livingstone  kept  the 
letter-bag  on  his  knee,  then,  presently  opened  it,  looked 
at  the  letters  contained  there,  read  one  or  two  of  his 
children's  letters,  his  face  in  the  meanwhile  lighting  up. 
He  asked  me  to  tell  him  the  news,  "No,  Doctor,"  said 
I,  "read  your  letters  first,  which  I  am  sure  you  must 
be  impatient  to  read."  "Ah,"  said  he,  "I  have  waited 
years  for  letters,  and  I  have  been  taught  patience." 

To  you,  of  the  younger  generation,  what  a  marvel, 
what  a  world  of  meaning  in  those  words — "I  have  been 
taught  patience."  We,  who  fret  and  chafe  because  the 
whole  world  will  not  bend  its  will  to  our  puny  strivings, 
and  turn  its  whole  course  that  we  might  have  our  unripe 
desires  fulfilled,  should  read  and  re-read  of  the  man  who 
could  wait,  because  he  knew  that  time  and  all  eternity 
would  be  bent  to  meet  his  desires  in  time. 

Livingstone's  is  a  character  that  we  cannot  help  but 
venerate;  that  calls  forth  all  one's  enthusiasm;  that 
evokes  nothing  but  sincerest  admiration.  He  was  sensi 
tive,  but  so  is  any  man  of  a  high  mind  and  generous 
nature;  he  was  sensitive  on  the  point  of  being  doubted 
or  criticised  by  the  easy-chair  geographers,  lolling  com 
fortably  in  their  clubs  and  scanning  through  then*  mono 
cles  the  maps  which  the  hard  working  travellers  had  made. 
He  was  humble-souled,  as  are  all  the  truly  great.  His 
gentleness  never  forsook  him;  his  hopefulness  never 
deserted  him.  No  harassing  anxiety,  distraction  of 
mind,  long  separation  from  home  and  kindred,  could 

437 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGQO  ELOQUENCE 

make  him  complain.  He  thought  all  would  come  out 
right  at  last,  such  faith  had  he  in  the  goodness  of  Provi 
dence.  The  sport  of  adverse  circumstances;  the  play 
thing  of  the  miserable  slaves,  which  were  persistently 
sent  him  from  Zanzibar,  baffled  and  worried,  even  almost 
to  the  grave;  yet  he  would  not  desert  the  charge  imposed 
upon  him.  To  the  stern  dictates  of  duty  alone  did  he 
sacrifice  his  home  and  ease,  the  pleasures,  refinements, 
and  luxuries  of  civilized  life.  His  was  the  Spartan 
heroism,  the  inflexibility  of  the  Roman,  the  enduring 
heroism  of  the  Englishman — never  to  relinquish  his  work, 
though  his  heart  yearned  for  home;  never  to  surrender 
his  obligations,  until  he  could  write  "Finis"  to  his  work. 
Yet  who  shall  say  that  the  years  spent  alone  at  the 
very  heart  of  Nature  had  not  made  him  the  possessor 
of  that  "inward  eye,"  which,  as  Wordsworth  says,  "is 
the  bliss  of  solitude."  For  many  years  he  lived  in  Africa 
deprived  of  books,  and  yet  when  Stanley  found  him,  he 
learned  to  his  surprise,  that  Livingstone  could  still 
recite  whole  poems  from  Byron,  Burns,  Tennyson,  Long 
fellow,  and  other  great  poets.  The  reason  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  all  his  life  he  lived  within  himself.  He  lived 
in  a  world  in  which  he  revolved  inwardly,  out  of  which 
he  awoke  only  to  attend  to  his  immediate  practical 
necessities.  It  was  a  happy  inner  world,  peopled  with 
his  own  friends,  acquaintances,  relatives,  readings,  ideas, 
and  associations.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  has  found  the 
inner  life  more  real  than  the  trivial  outer  one.  To  him 
mere  external  annoyances  are  but  as  the  little  insects, 
which  he  may  brush  away  at  will.  No  man  can  be  truly 

438 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

great  who  has  not  built  up  for  himself  a  subjective  world 
into  which  he  may  retire  at  will.  The  little  child  absorbed 
in  a  mythical  land  peopled  by  fairies  and  Prince  Charm- 
ings  is  nearest  to  possessing  such  an  inner  life;  and  we 
must  become  as  little  children.  To  some  it  is  a  God- 
given  gift;  others  may  acquire  it,  as  Jack  London  tells 
us,  by  "going  into  the  waste  places,  and  there  sitting 
down  with  our  souls."  There  comes  then,  the  over 
whelming  realization  of  the  charms  and  beauties  of 
nature — man  is  a  pygmy,  an  abstraction,  an  unreality. 
This  had  come  to  our  hero.  Added  to  the  strength  of 
his  inner  life  Livingstone  had  the  deep  sympathy  with 
Nature  in  all  her  moods.  He  became  enthusiastic  when 
he  described  the  beauties  of  the  Moero  scenery.  The 
splendid  mountains,  tropical  vegetation,  thundering 
cataracts,  noble  rivers,  stirred  his  soul  into  poetic  expres 
sion.  His  tired  spirit  expanded  in  the  presence  of  the 
charms  of  nature.  He  could  never  pass  through  an 
African  forest,  with  its  solemn  stillness  and  serenity, 
without  wishing  to  be  buried  quietly  under  the  dead 
leaves  where  he  would  be  sure  to  rest  undisturbed.  In 
England,  there  was  no  elbow-room,  the  graves  were 
often  desecrated,  and  ever  since  he  had  buried  his  wife 
in  the  woods  of  Shupanga,  he  had  sighed  for  just  such  a 
spot,  where  his  weary  bones  would  receive  the  eternal 
rest  they  coveted.  But  even  this  last  wish  was  denied 
him,  and  the  noisy  honors  and  crowded  crypt  of  West 
minster  Abbey  claimed  him,  far  away  from  the  splendid 
solitude  he  craved.  All  Africa  should  have  been  his  tomb. 
He  should  never  have  been  forced  to  share  with  hundreds 

439 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

of  others  a  meagre  and  scant  resting-place.  Yet  there  is 
food  for  rejoicing  in  the  knowledge,  that  though  his  body 
was  borne  away,  his  heart  was  buried  by  his  beloved 
natives  in  the  forest. 

The  study  of  Dr.  Livingstone  would  not  be  even 
superficially  complete  if  we  did  not  take  the  religious 
side  of  his  character  into  consideration.  By  religion,  we 
do  not  mean  the  faith  he  professed,  the  particular  tenets 
he  believed,  the  especial  catechism  he  studied,  or  any 
hair-splitting  doctrine  he  might  have  upheld,  but  that 
deeper  ethical  side  of  manhood,  without  which  there  can 
be  no  true  manhood.  Livingstone's  religion  was  not 
of  the  theoretical  kind,  but  it  was  a  constant,  earnest, 
sincere  practise.  It  was  neither  demonstrative  nor  loud, 
but  manifested  itself  in  a  quiet,  practical  way,  and  was 
always  at  work.  It  was  not  aggressive,  nor  troublesome, 
nor  impertinent.  In  him,  religion  exhibited  its  loveliest 
features;  it  governed  his  conduct  not  only  towards  his 
servants,  but  towards  the  natives,  the  bigoted  Moham 
medans,  and  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  Without 
it,  Livingstone,  with  his  ardent  temperament,  his  enthu 
siasm,  his  high  spirit  and  courage,  must  have  become 
uncompanionable,  and  a  hard  master.  Religion  had 
tamed  him,  and  made  him  a  Christian  gentleman;  the 
crude  and  wilful  were  refined  and  subdued;  religion  had 
made  him  the  most  companionable  of  men  and  indulgent 
of  masters — a  man  whose  society  was  pleasurable  to  a 
high  degree. 

If  his  life  held  for  us  no  other  message  than  this,  it 
would  hold  enough.  Unfortunately  the  youth  of  to-day 

440 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

is  apt  to  chafe  when  the  ideal  of  Christianity  and  manly 
religion  is  held  up  to  him.  He  thinks  of  the  religious 
man  as  a  milksop,  a  mollycoddle.  He  cannot  associate 
him  in  his  mind  with  the  doing  of  great  deeds,  the  thinking 
of  great  thoughts.  His  ideal  of  manhood  is  the  ruthless 
Man  on  Horseback,  with  too  often  a  disregard  of  the 
sacred  things  of  life.  Sometimes,  if  the  youth  of  to-day 
thinks  at  all,  he  runs  riot  into  ethics,  forgetting  that,  after 
all,  there  could  be  no  ethics  without  a  firm  base  of  re 
ligion.  And  so  he  wastes  many  precious  years  before 
he  learns  that  all  the  greatest  men  whom  the  world  has 
known  drew  their  strength  and  power  from  the  unseen 
and  the  spiritual. 

We  have  noticed  that  Livingstone's  religion  was  not 
aggressive  nor  impertinent.  Early  in  his  career  as  a  mis 
sionary,  he  recognized  the  truth  that  if  he  were  to  exercise 
any  influence  on  the  native  Africans,  it  would  not  be  by 
bringing  to  them  an  abstraction  in  place  of  their  own 
savage  ideals.  His  influence  depended  entirely  upon 
persuasion,  and  by  awakening  within  their  minds  the 
sense  of  right  and  wrong.  "We  never  wished  them  to 
do  right,"  he  says,  "because  it  would  be  pleasing  to  us, 
nor  think  themselves  to  blame  when  they  did  wrong." 
Worldly  affairs,  and  temporal  benefits  with  the  natives 
were  paramount,  so  he  did  not  force  abstractions  upon 
them  but,  with  a  keen  insight  into  human  nature,  as  well 
as  into  savage  human  nature,  he  reached  their  higher 
selves  through  the  more  worldly. 

His  was  a  pure  and  tender-hearted  nature,  full  of 
humanity  and  sympathy,  modest  as  a  maiden,  uncon- 

441 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

scious  of  his  own  greatness,  with  the  simplicity  we  have 
noted  before,  the  simplicity  of  the  truly  great.  His  soul 
could  be  touched  to  its  depths  by  the  atrocities  of  the 
Arab  slave-traders,  yet  he  forgot  his  own  sufferings  in 
the  desire  to  make  others  immune  from  suffering.  He 
had  but  one  rule  of  life,  that  which  he  gave  to  the  Scotch 
school  children,  whom  he  once  addressed: 

"Fear  God  and  work  hard!" 
*    *    *    *    * 

It  is  one  hundred  years  since  this  quiet,  high-souled 
man  was  given  the  world,  in  the  little  Scotch  village,  and 
yet  another  hundred  may  pass  away  and  still  his  life  will 
be  as  a  clarion  call  to  the  youth  of  the  world  to  emulate 
his  manhood.  For  the  world  needs  men  now,  as  it  never 
needed  them  before, 

"Men,  high-minded  men, 
With  powers  as  far  above  dull  brutes  endued 
In  forest  brake  or  den,  as  beasts  excel  cold  rocks  and  rambles 
rude." 

Such  a  man  was  Livingstone,  not  afraid  to  be  meek 
in  order  to  be  great;  not  afraid  to  "fear  God  and  work 
hard;"  not  ashamed  to  stoop  in  order  that  he  might  raise 
others  to  his  high  estate.  He  gave  the  world  a  continent 
and  a  conscience;  with  the  lavishness  almost  of  Nature 
herself  he  bestowed  cataracts  and  rivers,  lakes  and 
mountains,  forests  and  valleys,  upon  his  native  land. 
He  stirred  the  soul  of  the  civilized  world  to  the  atrocities 
of  the  slave  trade,  and  he  made  it  realize  that  humanity 
may  be  found  even  in  the  breast  of  a  savage.  When  he 

442 


ALICE  M.  DUNBAR 

laid  down  his  life  in  the  forest  he  loved,  he  laid  upon  the 
altar  of  humanity  and  science  the  costliest  and  sweetest 
sacrifice  that  it  had  known  for  many  a  weary  age. 

What  message  has  this  life  for  us  to-day,  we  the  com 
monplace,  the  mediocre,  the  unknown  to  fame  and  for 
tune?  Shall  we  fold  our  hands  when  we  read  of  such 
heroes  and  say,  "Ah,  yes,  he  could  be  great,  but  I?  I  am 
weak  and  humble,  I  have  not  the  opportunity?"  Who 
was  more  humble  than  the  poor  boy  spinning  in  the 
cotton-mill;  who  was  less  constrained  by  Fortune's 
frowns  than  the  humble  missionary?  His  life  brings  to  us 
the  message  of  doing  well  with  that  little  we  have. 

We  cannot  all  be  with  Peary  at  the  North  Pole,  nor 
die  the  death  of  the  hero,  Scott,  on  the  frozen  Antarctic 
continent.  It  is  not  given  to  us  to  be  explorers;  it  is  not 
given  us  to  be  pioneers;  we  may  not  discover  vast  con 
tinents,  name  great  lakes,  nor  gaze  with  wonder-stricken 
eyes  upon  the  rolling  of  a  mighty  unknown  river.  But 
to  each  and  all  of  us  comes  the  divine  opportunity  to 
carve  for  himself  a  niche,  be  it  ever  so  tiny,  in  the  memo 
ries  of  men.  We  can  heed  the  admonition  of  Carlyle, 
"Be  no  longer  a  Chaos,  but  a  World,  or  even  a  Worldkin. 
Produce!  Produce!  Were  it  but  the  pitifullest  infini 
tesimal  fraction  of  a  Product,  produce  it  in  God's  name! 
Tis  the  utmost  thou  hast  in  thee,  out  with  it  then!" 

The  life  of  service;  the  life  of  unselfish  giving — this 
must  Livingstone's  life  mean  to  us.  Unselfish,  ungrudg 
ing  lavishing  of  life  and  soul,  even  to  the  last  drop  of 
heart's  blood.  Service  that  does  not  hesitate  because 
the  task  seems  small,  or  the  waiting  weary;  service  that 

443 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

does  not  fear  to  be  of  no  account  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
Truly,  indeed,  might  Wordsworth's  apostrophe  to  Milton 
be  ascribed  to  him: 

"Thy  soul  was  like  a  star  and  dwelt  apart; 
Thou  hadst  a  voice  whose  sound  was  like  the  sea; 
Pure  as  the  naked  heavens,  majestic,  free, 
So  didst  thou  travel  on  life's  common  way 
In  cheerful  godliness,  and  yet  thy  heart 
The  lowliest  duties  on  itself  did  lay. " 


444 


EDUCATION  FOR  MANHOOD* 
BY  KELLY  MILLER 

We  must  keep  clearly  in  mind  the  proposition  that  the 
educational  process  is  always  under  domination  of  con 
temporary  opinion.  The  education  prescribed  for  any 
class  is  likely  to  be  conditioned  upon  the  presumed  rela 
tionship  of  that  class  to  the  social  body.  When  woman 
was  regarded  as  an  inferior  creature,  whose  destiny  was 
to  serve  as  a  tool  and  plaything  of  man,  she  was  accorded 
only  such  education  as  would  fit  her  for  this  subsidiary 
function.  Any  other  training  was  regarded  as  unnecessary 
and  mischievous.  It  is  only  within  comparatively  recent 
times,  when  man  began  to  realize  the  essential  human 
quality  and  powers  of  the  female  sex,  and  deemed  it  not 
mockery  to  place  her  on  the  same  footing  with  himself, 
that  the  comprehensive  education  of  woman  has  become 
a  possibility. 

The  traditional  relation  of  the  American  Negro  to  the 
society  of  which  he  forms  a  part  is  too  well  known  to  need 
extensive  treatment  in  this  connection.  The  African 
slave  was  introduced  into  this  country  as  a  pure  animal 
instrumentality  to  perform  the  rougher  work  under 
dominion  of  his  white  lord  and  master.  There  was  not 
the  remotest  thought  of  his  human  personality.  No 

*  Reprinted  from  Kelly  Miller's  Monographic  Magazine,  April,  1913. 

445 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

more  account  was  taken  of  his  higher  qualities  than  of 
the  higher  susceptibilities  of  the  lower  animals.  His 
mission  was  considered  to  be  as  purely  mechanical  as 
that  of  the  ox  which  pulls  the  plow.  Indeed,  his  human 
capabilities  were  emphatically  denied.  It  was  stoutly 
contended  that  he  did  not  possess  a  soul  to  be  saved  in 
the  world  to  come  nor  a  mind  to  be  enlightened  in  the 
world  that  now  is.  Under  the  dominion  of  this  dogma, 
education  was  absolutely  forbidden  him.  It  became  a 
crime  even  to  attempt  to  educate  this  tertium  quid  which 
was  regarded  as  little  more  than  brute  and  little  less  than 
human.  The  white  race,  in  its  arrogant  conceit,  con 
stituted  the  personalities  and  the  Negro  the  instrumental 
ities.  Man  may  be  defined  as  a  distinction-making 
animal.  He  is  ever  prone  to  set  up  barriers  between 
members  of  his  own  species  and  to  deny  one  part  of  God's 
human  creatures  the  inalienable  birthright  vouchsafed 
to  all  alike.  But  the  process  was  entirely  logical  and 
consistent  with  the  prevailing  philosophy. 

The  anti-slavery  struggle  stimulated  the  moral  energy 
of  the  American  people  in  a  manner  that  perhaps  has 
never  had  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  vicarious  endeavor. 
"One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin."  In 
dealing  with  fundamental  principles  of  human  rights  and 
human  wrongs  involved  in  the  issue  of  slavery,  these 
moral  reformers  found  that  the  Negro  was  a  human  being, 
endowed  with  heart  and  mind  and  conscience  like  as 
themselves;  albeit  these  powers  of  personality  had  long 
been  smothered  and  imbruted  by  centuries  of  suppres 
sion  and  harsh  usage.  These  philanthropists  believed  in 

446 


KELLY  MILLER 

the  essential  manhood  of  the  Negro.  This  belief  was  the 
chief  dynamic  of  their  endeavor.  Upon  this  foundation 
they  not  only  broke  the  Negro's  chain,  but  clothed  him 
with  political  and  civic  prerogative  as  an  American  cit 
izen.  They  established  schools  and  colleges  and  univer 
sities  for  him  because  they  believed  in  his  higher  suscep 
tibilities.  To-day  we  are  almost  astounded  at  the 
audacity  of  their  faith.  They  projected  a  scheme  of 
education  comparable  with  the  standards  set  up  for  the 
choicest  European  youth  for  a  race  which  had  hitherto 
been  submerged  below  the  zero  point  of  intelligence. 
These  schools  and  colleges  founded  and  fostered  on  this 
basis  were  the  beginnings  of  the  best  that  there  is  in  the 
race  and  the  highest  which  it  can  hope  to  be. 

But,  alas,  as  the  passion  engendered  by  the  war  grew 
weaker  and  weaker,  the  corresponding  belief  in  the  Negro 
has  also  declined,  and  the  old  dogma  concerning  his  mis 
sion  as  a  human  tool  has  begun  to  reassert  itself.  In 
certain  sections  the  white  race  has  always  claimed  that 
the  Negro  should  not  be  encouraged  in  the  development 
of  personality.  The  denial  of  the  designation  "mister" 
is  suggestive  of  this  disposition.  With  them  the  term 
" mister"  is  made  to  mean  a  direct  designation  of  person 
ality.  There  is  no  objection  to  such  titles  as  "doctor/' 
"reverend"  or  "professor,"  as  these  connote  professional 
rather  than  personal  quality. 

Our  whole  educational  activities  are  under  the  thrall 
of  this  retrograde  spirit.  We  are  marking  time  rather 
than  moving  forward.  The  work  is  being  carried  on 
rather  than  up.  Our  bepuzzled  pedagogues  are  seriously/ 

447 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

reflecting  over  the  query,  Cui  bono? — Is  it  worth  while? 
Few,  indeed,  are  left  who  have  the  intensity  of  belief  and 
the  intrepidity  of  spirit  to  defend  the  higher  pretentions 
of  the  Negro  without  apology  or  equivocation.  The  old 
form  of  appeal  has  become  insipid  and  uninspiring;  the 
ear  has  become  dull  to  its  dinging.  The  old  blade  has 
become  blunt  and  needs  a  new  sharpness  of  point  and 
keenness  of  edge.  Where  now  is  heard  the  tocsin  call 
whose  key-note  a  generation  ago  resounded  from  the 
highlands  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to  the  plains  of 
the  Carolinas  calling  the  black  youths,  whose  hopes  ran 
high  within  their  bosoms,  to  rise  and  make  for  higher 
things?  This  clarion  note,  though  still  for  the  nonce, 
shall  not  become  a  lost  chord.  Its  inspiring  tones  must 
again  appeal  to  the  youth  to  arise  to  their  higher  assertion 
and  exertion.  If  you  wish  to  reach  and  inspire  the  life  of 
the  people,  the  approach  must  be  made  not  to  the  intel 
lectual,  nor  yet  to  the  feelings,  as  the  final  basis  of  appeal, 
but  to  the  manhood  that  lies  back  of  these.  That  edu 
cation  cf  youth,  especially  the  suppressed  class,  that  does 
not  make  insistent  and  incessant  appeals  to  the  smothered 
manhood  (I  had  almo&t  said  godhood)  within,  will  prove 
to  be  but  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  What  boots  a 
few  chapters  in  Chemistry,  or  pages  in  History,  or  par 
agraphs  in  Philosophy,  unless  they  result  in  an  enlarged 
appreciation  of  one's  own  manhood?  Those  who  are  to 
5>tand  in  the  high  places  of  intellectual,  moral,  and  spir 
itual  leadership  of  such  a  people  in  such  a  time  as  this 
must  be  made  to  feel  deep  down  in  their  own  souls  their 
own  essential  manhood.  They  must  believe  that  they 

448 


KELLY  MILLER 

are  created  in  the  image  of  God  and  that  nothing  clothed 
in  human  guise  is  a  more  faithful  likeness  of  the  original. 
This  must  be  the  dominant  note  in  the  education  of  the 
Negro.  If  the  note  itself  is  not  new,  there  must  at  least 
be  a  newness  of  emphasis  and  insistence.  The  Negro 
must  learn  in  school  what  the  white  boy  absorbs  from 
association  and  environment.  The  American  white  man 
in  his  ordinary  state  is  supremely  conscious  of  his  man 
hood  prerogative.  He  may  be  ignorant  or  poor  or  vicious ; 
yet  he  never  forgets  that  he  is  a  man.  But  every  feature 
of  our  civilization  is  calculated  to  impress  upon  the  Negro 
a  sense  of  his  inferiority  and  to  make  him  feel  and  believe 
that  he  is  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden 
under  foot  of  other  men.  A  race,  like  an  individual,  that 
compromises  its  own  self-respect,  paralyzes  and  enfeebles 
its  own  energies.  The  motto  which  should  be  engraved 
upon  the  conscience  of  every  American  Negro  is  that 
which  Milton  places  in  the  mouth  of  His  Satanic  Majesty: 
"The  mind  is  its  own  place  and  of  itself  can  make  a 
heaven  of  hell;  a  hell  of  heaven."  To  inculcate  this 
principle  is  the  highest  mission  of  the  higher  education. 
The  old  theologians  used  to  insist  upon  the  freedom  of 
the  will,  but  the  demand  of  the  Negro  to-day  is  for  the 
freedom  and  independence  of  his  own  spirit.  Destroy 
this  and  all  is  lost;  preserve  it,  and  though  political  rights, 
civil  privileges,  industrial  opportunities  be  taken  away 
for  the  time,  they  will  all  be  regained. 

By  the  development  of  manhood  on  the  part  of  the 
Negro  nothing  is  farther  from  my  thought  than  the  incul 
cation  of  that  pugnacious,  defiant  disposition  which  vents 

449 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

itself  in  wild  ejaculations  and  impotent  screaming  against 
the  evils  of  society.  I  mean  the  full  appreciation  of 
essential  human  qualities  and  claims,  and  the  firm,  un 
yielding  determination  to  press  forward  to  the  mark  of 
this  calling,  and  not  to  be  swerved  from  its  pursuit  by 
doubt,  denial,  danger,  rebuff,  ridicule,  insult,  and  con 
temptuous  treatment.  While  the  Negro  may  not  have 
it  within  his  power  to  resist  or  overcome  these  things,  he 
must  preserve  the  integrity  of  his  own  soul. 

The  higher  education  of  the  Negro  up  to  this  point 
has  been  very  largely  under  the  direction  and  control  of 
philanthropy.  The  support  has  come  almost  wholly 
from  that  source.  The  development  of  this  sense  of  man 
hood  should  be  the  highest  concern  of  a  wise,  discrim 
inating  philanthropy,  for  if  this  is  once  developed  the 
Negro  will  be  able  to  handle  his  own  situation  and  relieve 
his  philanthropic  friends  from  further  consideration  or 
concern;  but,  if  he  fails  to  develop  this  spirit  of  manhood, 
he  will  be  but  a  drag  upon  the  resources  of  philanthropy 
for  all  times  to  come. 

The  Negro  must  develop  courage  and  self-confidence. 
A  grasp  upon  the  principles  of  knowledge  gives  the  pos 
sessor  the  requisite  spirit  of  confidence.  To  the  timid, 
the  world  is  full  of  mystery  manipulated  and  controlled 
by  forces  and  powers  beyond  their  ken  to  comprehend. 
But  knowledge  convinces  us  that  there  is  no  mystery  in 
civilization.  The  railroad,  the  steamship,  and  the  prac 
tical  projects  that  loom  so  large  to  the  unreflecting,  are 
but  the  result  of  the  application  of  thought  to  things. 
The  mechanical  powers  and  forces  of  Nature  are  open 

450 


KELLY  MILLER 

secrets  for  all  who  will  undertake  to  unravel  the  mystery. 
And  so  it  is  with  essential  and  moral  principles.  The  one 
who  will  have  himself  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  things  can  look  with  complacence 
upon  the  panorama  of  the  world's  progress.  The  Negro 
should  plant  one  foot  on  the  Ten  Commandments  and 
the  other  on  the  Binomial  Theorem:  he  can  then  stand 
steadfast  and  immovable,  however  the  rain  of  racial 
wrath  may  fall  or  the  angry  winds  of  prejudice  may  blow 
and  beat  upon  him. 

The  educated  Negro  must  learn  to  state  his  own  case 
and  to  plead  his  own  cause  before  the  bar  of  public  opin 
ion.  No  people  who  raise  up  from  out  their  midst  a 
cultivated  class,  who  can  plead  their  own  cause  and  state 
their  own  case,  will  fail  of  a  hearing  before  the  just  judg 
ment  of  mankind. 

The  educated  Negro  to-day  represents  the  first  genera 
tion  grown  to  the  fullness  of  the  stature  of  manhood 
under  the  influence  and  power  of  education.  They  are 
the  first  ripened  fruit  of  philanthropy,  and  by  them  alone 
will  the  wisdom  or  folly  of  that  philanthropy  be  justified. 
The  hope  of  the  race  is  focused  in  them.  They  are  the 
headlight  to  direct  the  pathway  through  the  dangers  and 
vicissitudes  of  the  wilderness.  For  want  of  vision,  the 
people  perish;  for  want  of  wise  direction,  they  stumble 
and  fall.  There  is  no  body  of  men  in  the  world  to-day, 
nor  in  the  history  of  the  world,  who  have,  or  ever  have 
had,  greater  responsibilities  or  more  coveted  opportunities 
than  devolves  upon  the  educated  Negro  to-day.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  privilege  to  be  a  Negro  of  light  and  leading  in 

451 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

such  a  time  as  this.  The  incidental  embarrassments  and 
disadvantages  which  for  the  time  being  must  be  endured 
are  not  to  be  compared  with  the  far  more  exceeding 
weight  of  privileges  and  glory  which  awaits  him  if  he 
rises  to  these  high  demands.  For  such  a  privilege  well 
may  he  forego  the  pleasure  of  civilization  for  a  season. 

His  world  consists  of  10,000,000  souls,  who  have 
wrapped  up  in  them  all  the  needs  and  necessities,  powers 
and  possibilities,  of  human  nature;  they  contain  all  the 
norms  of  civilization,  from  its  roots  to  its  florescence. 
His  is  the  task  to  develop  and  vitalize  these  smothered 
faculties  and  potentialities.  His  education  will  prove  to 
be  but  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  unless  it  ultimates 
in  this  task.  He  is  the  salt  of  the  earth,  and  if  the  salt 
lose  its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?  If  the  light 
within  the  racial  world  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that 
darkness? 

The  highest  call  of  the  civilization  of  the  world  to-day 
is  to  the  educated  young  men  of  the  belated  races.  The 
educated  young  manhood  of  Japan,  China,  India,  Egypt, 
and  Turkey  must  lift  their  own  people  up  to  the  level  of 
their  own  high  conception.  They  must  partake  of  the 
best  things  in  the  civilization  of  Europe  and  show  them 
unto  their  own  people.  The  task  of  the  educated  Ameri 
can  Negro  is  the  same  as  theirs,  intensified,  perhaps,  by 
the  more  difficult  and  intricate  tangle  of  circumstances 
and  conditions  with  which  he  has  to  deal. 

He  cannot  afford  to  sink  into  slothful  satisfaction  and 
enjoy  a  tasteless  leisure  or  with  inane  self-deception  hide 
his  head  under  the  shadows  of  his  wings,  like  the  foolish 

452 


KELLY  MILLER 

bird,  which  thereby  hopes  to  escape  the  wrath  to  come. 
The  white  race,  through  philanthropy,  has  done  much; 
but  its  vicarious  task  culminated  when  it  developed  the 
first  generation  of  educated  men  and  women.  They 
must  do  the  rest. 

These  philanthopists  spoke  for  us  when  our  tongues 
were  tied.  They  pleaded  our  cause  when  we  were  speech 
less;  but  now  our  faculties  have  been  unloosed.  We  must 
stand  upon  our  own  footing.  In  buffeting  the  tempest 
uous  torrents  of  the  world  we  must  either  swim  on  the 
surface  or  sink  out  of  sight.  The  greatest  gratitude  that 
the  beneficiary  can  show  to  the  benefactor  is,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  do  without  his  benefaction.  The  task  of  race 
statesmanship  and  reclamation  devolve  supon  the  edu 
cated  Negro  of  this  day  and  generation.  Moral  energy 
must  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  task,  whether  the  Negro 
be  engaged  in  the  production  of  wealth  or  in  the  more 
recondite  pursuits  which  minister  to  the  higher  needs  of 
man. 

The  white  race  is  fast  losing  faith  in  the  Negro  as  an 
efficient  and  suitable  factor  in  the  equation  of  our  civiliza 
tion.  Curtailment  of  political,  civil,  and  religious  priv 
ilege  and  opportunity  is  but  the  outward  expression  of 
this  apostasy.  As  the  white  man's  faith  decreases,  our 
belief  in  ourselves  must  increase.  Every  Negro  in  Amer 
ica  should  utter  this  prayer,  with  his  face  turned  toward 
the  light :  "  Lord,  I  believe  in  my  own  inherent  manhood ; 
help  Thou  my  unbelief."  The  educated  Negro  must 
express  his  manhood  in  terms  of  courage,  in  the  active  as 
well  as  in  the  passive  voice :  courage  to  do,  as  well  as  to 

453 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

endure;  courage  to  contend  for  the  right  while  suffering 
wrong;  the  courage  of  self-belief  that  is  always  commen 
surate  with  the  imposed  task.  The  world  believes  in  a 
race  that  believes  in  itself;  but  justly  despises  the  self- 
bemeaned.  Such  is  the  mark  and  the  high  calling  to 
which  the  educated  Negro  of  to-day  is  called.  May  he 
rise  to  the  high  level  of  it.  Never  was  there  a  field  whiter 
unto  harvest;  never  was  there  louder  cry  for  laborers  in 
the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 


454 


A  FEW  REMARKS  ON  MAKING  A  LIFE* 

BY  ROBERT  E.  JONES,  LL.  D. 
Editor  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate,  New  Orleans,  La. 

I  have  a  story  to  relate,  and  at  once  I  want  to  present 
to  you  my  hero, — a  hero  more  inspiring  than  Achilles  of 
the  "Iliad,"  or  Odysseus  of  the  "Odyssey,"  or  ^Eneas  of 
the",Eneid." 

My  hero  is  not  a  myth,  not  a  creation  of  literature,  not 
a  tradition,  but  not  unlike  the  Grecian  hero  in  that  he 
sprung  from  the  union  of  a  god  and  a  mortal.  My  hero  is 
not  reckoned  among  the  high  and  mighty  nor  will  his 
name  ever  be  carved  on  stone  or  raised  on  bronze.  Neither 
has  my  hero  accomplished  startling  feats.  As  a  hero  he 
may  be  a  paradox.  Inconspicuous,  humble  in  station, 
modest,  hid  far  away  from  the  maddening,  jealous, 
curious,  bickering,  taunting,  striving,  restless  crowd  of 
life.  Too  long  already  I  have  held  him  from  you.  His 
name?  I  do  not  know.  His  birthplace?  I  do  not  know. 
His  age?  I  do  not  know.  Is  he  living  now?  Here  my 
ignorance  is  painful.  I  do  not  know.  My  hero,  however, 
is  an  actual  man  of  flesh  and  blood.  I  met  him  but  twice 
in  life,  but  was  so  charmed  I  did  not  ask  his  name.  His 

*Extracts  from  Commencement  address  delivered  at  Tuskegee  Institute, 
May  29,  1913. 

455 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

personality  thrilled  and  he  in  a  measure  has  become 
my  patron  saint.  He  is  not  a  hero  of  large  and  com 
manding  stature,  but  a  cripple — doubly  so.  His  arms 
were  palsied  and  turned  in  so  that  he  could  not  use  a 
crutch,  his  lower  limbs  turned  in  also.  He  sat  in  an  ordi 
nary  cane-bottomed  chair  and  could  easily  move  him 
self  about  by  throwing  the  weight  of  his  body  from  one 
back  leg  of  the  chair  to  the  other,  lifting  the  front  legs 
at  the  same  time.  I  saw  him  along  the  train  side  at 
Spartanburg,  S.  C. 

A  beggar?  No,  my  young  friends,  beggars  are  seldom 
heroes.  He  was  a  merchant  prince.  He  carried  his  goods 
around  his  neck  and  shoulders  and  in  his  outer  coat 
pockets.  He  was  selling  shoe-strings  and  pencils.  If  you 
gave  him  a  dime  he  would  insist  on  your  taking  one  or 
both  of  the  articles  he  had  for  sale.  In  his  activities  he 
was  a  fine  lesson  of  the  first  requirement  of  life.  He  was 
self-sustaining.  By  the  sweat  of  his  brow  he  earned  his 
bread. 

Did  he  complain  of  his  lot?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  His 
handicap  he  did  not  make  nor  could  undo.  He  therefore 
accepted  his  condition  philosophically;  he  was  self- 
respecting.  He  knew  his  limitations;  he  knew  what  he 
could  do  and  what  he  could  not  do;  he  was  self-knowing. 
Knowing  his  handicap  and  that  it  was  quite  unlike  any 
other  man's  and  that  he  needed  a  means  of  locomotion, 
he  found  it;  he  had,  therefore,  initiative.  He  leaned  not 
upon  the  strength  of  others,  but  used  his  own  resources; 
he  was  therefore  self-reliant.  He  did  not  wait  for  business 

456 


ROBERT  E.  JONES 

to  come  to  him,  he  put  himself  in  the  path  of  business;  he 
was  a  hustler.  He  saw  life  through  a  cheerful  lens  and 
kept  a  stout  heart;  he  was  optimistic.  He  recognized 
his  own  personality  apart  from  the  personalties  of  the 
crowded  throng  through  which  he  passed;  he  was  a  self- 
contented  individual.  He  had  but  one  life  to  live  and  he 
was  making  the  most  of  life.  When  I  left  him  I  crowned 
him,  honored  him,  and  I  love  him  for  his  worth  as  a  true 
man. 

"I  like  a  man  who  faces  what  he  must, 
With  step  triumphant  and  a  heart  of  cheer; 
Who  fights  the  daily  battles  without  fear; 
Nor  loses  faith  in  man;  but  does  his  best, 
Nor  ever  murmurs  at  his  humble  lot, 
But,  with  a  smile,  and  words  of  hope,  gives  zest 
To  every  toiler;  he  alone  is  great 
Who  by  a  life  heroic  conquers  fate. " 

When  once  away  from  my  hero,  as  I  thought  of  him 
in  my  deepest  soul,  I  cried: 

"Thou  art  my  chastiser  and  my  inspirator.  Thou  art 
simple  yet  great;  untaught  thyself,  thou  art  the  teacher  of 
all.  Henceforth  thou  shalt  be  my  hero  and  guide.  Doubt 
ing  myself,  bemoaning  my  limitations,  depressed  by  my 
failure,  ashamed  of  my  achievements,  my  seeing  you  has 
given  me  a  new  interpretation  of  life.  I  own  you  my 
friend,  my  life's  inspiration  and  hero. " 

There  is  my  hero.  You  ask  his  color?  What  difference 
does  it  make?  Men  have  often  refused  to  recognize 
worth  because  of  color.  But  to  satisfy  you  I  will  tell  you. 

457 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

He  is  a  Negro.  Give  a  seat  of  honor  to  my  hero. 
Gather  inspiration  and  learn  from  him  the  lessons  of 
life,  if  you  will.  Here  is  an  individual  doubly  afflicted, 
without  a  word  of  complaint,  or  a  fret  or  whine,  depend 
ing  upon  his  own  initiative  and  resources,  making  the 
most  of  life  under  the  circumstances  which  surround 
him. 

Upon  the  basis  of  what  has  been  said,  in  closing  this 
address  to  the  graduating  Class  of  1913  of  the  Tuskegee 
Normal  and  Industrial  Institute  I  desire  to  offer  a  personal 
word: 

In  the  first  place,  you  will  know  a  year  from  now,  more 
than  you  can  realize  at  this  present  moment,  that  this 
is  a  commencement.  This  is  not  the  climax  of  your  life. 
It  is  but  the  beginning,  and  however  paradoxical  it  may 
seem,  you  are  not  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  you  are  at  the 
foot.  We  are  here  to  applaud  you  to-day  not  so  much  on 
what  you  have  already  accomplished  as  to  give  you  a 
send-off  for  the  strenuous  tasks  that  lie  before  you.  To 
be  frank  with  you,  young  men  and  young  women,  the 
life  in  earnest  that  awaits  you  without  will  tax  every  bit 
of  your  strength.  You  moral  strength  will  be  drawn 
upon,  as  well  as  your  intellectual  resources. 

Secondly;  had  I  my  way  I  would  have  each  of  you 
burn  your  diploma  and  never  refer  to  it  as  an  indication 
of  what  you  are  and  what  you  know.  Do  not  attempt  to 
pass  through  the  world  on  your  diploma  or  your  class 
standing.  The  world  cares  little  for  these.  I  would  urge 
that  you  prove  to  the  world  what  you  are  by  what  you 

458 


ROBERT  E.  JONES 

can  do — that  you  let  your  achievements  point  to  your 
diploma. 

Thirdly;  you  go  forth  to-day  as  a  representative  of 
this  institution,  mantled  with  all  the  sacred  honors, 
prestige,  and  commendation  that  this  institution,  State, 
and  your  admirers  can  bestow.  See  to  it  that  you  keep 
the  honors  of  this  hour  unsoiled  and  that  you  disgrace  not 
the  noble  history  of  your  alma  mater. 

Fourthly;  I  do  not  believe  that  this  institution  is 
fostered  with  the  idea  that  the  few  students  who  gather 
here  from  time  to  time  only  shall  be  reached.  I  rather 
suspect  that  the  dollars  that  come  from  the  State  and 
generous  friends  come  with  the  hope  that  as  you  have 
been  helped  and  lifted  to  culture  and  refinement,  you  in 
turn  will  carry  culture  to  those  who  may  never  be  per 
mitted  to  stay  in  these  walls.  You  are  to  carry  light 
into  dark  places  and  unto  those  who  sit  in  darkness. 
By  your  arm  of  strength  you  are  to  lift  the  poor  who 
are  beneath  you.  And  then  your  education  comes  not 
for  self-culture,  not  for  self-enjoyment,  not  for  self-use, 
but  for  the  betterment  of  those  who  are  about  you. 

Fifthly;  you  go  forth  as  the  embodiment  of  a  new 
generation.  You  stand  to-day  upon  the  foundation  built 
by  those  who  have  gone  before  you.  They  have  wrought 
well.  By  their  toil  and  suffering  you  are  blest.  You  are 
to  carry  your  generation  one  notch  higher  and  thus  help 
the  onward  march  of  the  world's  progress.  Be  thou 
faithful.  Lift  your  eyes  heavenward  and  aspire  to  do  the 
best  and  be  the  noblest  according  to  God's  heritage  to 

459 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

you.    There  are  no  chosen  depths,  no  prescribed  heights 
to  which  you  may  climb. 

"Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise, 
Act  well  your  part,  there  all  the  honor  lies. " 

Make  the  most  of  life! 


460 


EMANCIPATION  AND  RACIAL  ADVANCEMENT* 
BY  THE  REV.  ERNEST  LYON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Members  of  the  Celebration  Committee, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

We  are  not  here  to-day  in  the  capacity  of  the  priest 
performing  the  funeral  rights  over  the  graves  of  the  dead; 
neither  are  we  here  simply  to  offer  tribute  to  their  mem 
ory,  by  the  time-honored  custom  of  decorating  their 
graves  with  the  faded  tokens  of  a  nation 's  love  and  grat 
itude;  but  we  are  here,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  cheer  the 
hearts  of  the  living — not  by  an  optimism  impossible  of 
realization — but  by  a  candid  and  truthful  report  of  the 
conduct  of  that  legacy  of  freedom,  which  came  to  us 
fifty  years  ago,  through  the  sacrifice  and  death  of  the 
patriots,  living  and  dead,  whose  memories  are  honored 
to-day  all  over  this  broad  land  of  ours. 

The  civilized  world  will  watch  for  the  newspaper 
reports  of  to-morrow  to  learn  the  sentiments  of  the 
American  people  uttered  to-day  upon  many  of  the  burn 
ing  issues  before  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  relat 
ing  to  our  domestic  and  foreign  policies.  The  opportun 
ities,  which  this  day  gives,  will  be  seized  by  national 

*  An  address  delivered  upon  the  invitation  of  the  citizens  of  Brownsville, 
Pa.,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion  and  also  to  celebrate  the  event  of  Decoration  Day,  May  30,  1913. 

461 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

orators  to  record  their  convictions  upon  matters  of 
morality,  politics,  and  diplomacy.  Japan  will  listen  with 
keen,  diplomatic  interest  to  every  utterance,  official  or 
unofficial,  touching  the  vexing  problems  involved  in  the 
so-called  "Yellow  Peril"  and  in  the  Anti- Alien  Land 
legislation,  which,  like  Segregation  and  the  Jimcrowism 
of  the  South,  have  been  enacted  into  laws  discriminating 
against  citizens,  not  aliens,  but  citizens  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  such  as  we  are. 

Many  to-day  believe  that  the  gravity  of  these  interna 
tional  matters  will  force  the  Decoration  Day  orators  to 
ignore  the  Negro  question,  which,  in  some  form  or  other, 
has  been  the  livest  question  in  American  politics  for 
nearly  three  centuries.  In  this  belief  I  think  they  will  be 
disappointed,  for  no  question  before  the  American  people 
to-day,  whether  national  or  international,  can  overshadow 
the  Negro  question  in  America,  and  no  day  as  historic  as 
this  would  be  complete  in  its  observance  without  some 
reference  to  it. 

We,  therefore,  gladly  welcome  the  Japanese,  or  any 
other  members  of  the  colored  race  in  the  earth,  to  come 
and  share  with  us  that  notoriety  which  our  presence 
begets  in  this  country,  for  no  other  people  on  the  face  of 
the  globe,  so  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  will 
be  able  to  dispossess  us  from  the  limelight  of  public  dis 
cussion.  We  have  not  only  helped,  but  we  have  made 
history  in  this  country.  We  are  wrapped  up  in  the  history 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  despite  the  attempt  in 
certain  quarters  to  deny  us  a  respectful  place  therein. 
There  is  not  a  single  page,  from  the  period  of  its  colonial 

462 


ERNEST  LYON 

existence  to  its  present  standard  of  greatness  and  renown, 
from  which  we  are  absent.  From  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  Rock  to  the  advent  of  the  Cavaliers 
at  Jamestown;  from  the  stirring  periods  of  the  Revolution, 
which  resulted  in  the  emancipation  of  the  colonists  from 
British  imperialism,  to  the  Rebellion  in  1860 — resulting 
in  the  salvation  of  the  Federal  Union — we  have  ever  and 
always  been  a  potent  factor  in  the  history  of  this 
country. 

Our  presence  here  has  made  this  day  possible.  There 
would  have  been  no  Decoration  Day  had  the  American 
kidnappers  left  us  in  Africa — our  fatherland.  The  world 
must,  therefore,  hear  from  us  upon  these  special  occasions. 
So,  like  other  elements  of  the  population,  we  come  to-day 
to  make  our  annual  report.  We  come,  in  company  with 
the  others,  to  review  the  past,  to  study  the  present,  and, 
if  possible,  to  forecast  the  future.  In  measuring  the  pro 
gress  of  any  successful  commercial  enterprise,  the  mode 
of  procedure  is  to  compare  beginnings  with  balance- 
sheets.  Commercially  speaking,  it  is  to  take  an  inventory. 
What,  therefore,  is  true  of  any  commercial  enterprise  is 
equally  true  of  races  and  individuals.  The  modus  oper- 
andi  is  the  same.  In  fact,  we  proceed  by  comparing 
beginnings  with  beginnings;  environments  with  environ 
ments,  and  the  advantages  and  disavantages  of  the  past 
and  present.  This  is  the  mode  by  which  the  progress  of  a 
race  or  the  attainments  of  an  individual  must  be  meas 
ured,  and  the  Negro  race  offers  no  exception  to  this  rule. 

It  was  Wendell  Phillips,  one  of  America's  greatest 
statesmen,  jurists,  and  orators,  who  said  in  that  marvel- 

463 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

lous  lecture  on  Toussaint  L'Ouverture — beyond  doubt 
the  greatest  military  genius  of  the  nineteenth  century — 
that  there  are  two  ways  by  which  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
measures  races.  First,  by  the  great  men  produced  by 
that  race;  secondly,  by  the  average  merit  of  the  mass  of 
that  race.  In  support  of  the  first  he  bravely  summoned 
to  his  presence,  from  the  regions  of  the  dead,  the  immortal 
Bacon,  Shakespeare,  Hampden,  Hancock,  Washington, 
and  Franklin,  offering  them  as  stars,  who,  in  their  day, 
had  lent  lustre  in  the  galaxy  of  history.  And  with  equal 
pride  he  gloried  in  the  average  merit  of  Anglo-Saxon 
blood,  since  it  first  streamed  from  its  German  home,  in 
support  of  the  contention  of  the  second  way. 

As  a  race,  we  shall  offer  no  objection  to  this  principle 
of  judgment.  In  fact,  we  cannot  even  if  we  so  desired. 
We  shall,  therefore,  accept  it  without  any  reluctance.  We 
think  it  is  a  good  principle  upon  which  to  base  a  judgment. 
The  only  consideration  we  demand,  in  connection  with  it, 
is  that  the  white  American,  in  his  judgment  of  the  Afro- 
American,  shall  strictly  observe  the  rule  which  the  race 
he  represents  has  set  for  itself;  that  is  to  say,  let  him 
measure  our  race  by  the  great  and  useful  men  it  has 
produced,  since  the  immortal  Abraham  Lincoln  issued 
that  Proclamation,  whose  fiftieth  anniversary  we  cele 
brate  to-day,  giving  freedom  to  four  and  one-half  millions 
of  human  beings.  Let  him  measure  us  by  the  average 
merit  of  Afro-American  blood,  since  it  first  streamed 
from  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs,  whose  wills  were  inscribed 
in  hieroglyphics — long  before  Phoenicia  invented  the 
alphabet;  long  before  the  conquest  of  Alexander  the 

464 


ERNEST  LYON 

Great  had  enabled  Eratosthenes  and  Appollodorus  to 
construct  their  synchrony  of  Egyptian  antiquity;  long 
before  the  construction  of  the  Pyramids  (those  silent  but 
eloquent  tributes  to  the  grandeur  and  majesty  of  the 
African  intellect)  had  proclaimed  the  immortality  of  the 
soul. 

Our  record  in  this  country,  Mr.  Chairman,  must  begin 
with  the  Emancipation  period.  The  Emancipation  is  our 
birthday.  Mankind,  therefore,  in  measuring  our  progress, 
must,  in  order  to  be  just,  make  Emancipation  its  starting  • 
point.  Previous  to  that  period  we  were  like  the  earth  in 
its  primeval  condition,  as  described  by  Moses,  the  great 
Lawgiver,  in  the  Book  of  the  Generations;  namely,  that 
the  ''Earth  was  without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep. "  So,  too,  were  we  before 
the  issuance  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation;  we  were 
without  national  form;  void  of  civic  rights;  and  moral 
and  intellectual  darkness  covered  the  minds  and  souls 
and  spirits  of  the  race. 

What  was  the  condition  of  the  race  when  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  was  first  issued,  a  half  century  ago? 
Commercially  speaking,  what  were  the  assets  of  this  race? 
Had  it  anything  to  its  credit  in  the  balance-sheets  of 
human  progress,  save  the  evils  accruing  from  a  long  period 
of  bondage?  The  facts  will  prove  that  it  had  nothing  to 
its  credit  but  the  virtues  of  patience  and  endurance,  under 
trials  and  afflictions,  the  horrors  of  which  will  form  one  of 
the  darkest  chapters  in  the  history  of  this  country. 

The  twenty  Africans,  brought  by  the  slave-traders  to 
Jamestown,  in  1620,  representing  the  introduction  of 

465 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

African  slavery  into  the  United  States,  in  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  years  had  increased  to  four  and  one-half 
millions  of  human  souls;  and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  an 
equal,  if  not  a  greater  number  than  this,  had  perished  on 
account  of  the  rigors  of  transmission  in  crossing  the  Atlan 
tic  Ocean  and  the  indescribable  cruelties  of  the  slave 
system  at  home. 

The  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  found  these  four 
and  one-half  millions  of  human  beings  practically  home 
less,  penniless,  and  friendless,  and  absolutely  dependent 
upon  the  very  same  people  to  whom  they  were  in  bondage 
for  two  hundred  and  forty  years,  and  against  whom  they 
had  taken  up  arms  in  a  civil  war.  The  forty  acres  of  land 
and  two  mules,  which  were  promised  by  the  Federal 
Government,  never  materialized.  That  promise  was  like 
the  proverbial  pie-crust,  made  to  be  broken;  and  the 
descendants  of  these  four  and  a  half  millions  are  to-day 
entitled,  by  every  humane  consideration,  to  all  the  bene 
fits  and  the  equities  in  the  case.  The  Federal  Government 
at  Washington  can  only  purge  itself  of  this  breach  of 
promise  by  paying  the  bill,  with  legal  interest;  if  not, 
according  to  the  legal  terms  of  the  agreement  (forty  acres 
and  two  mules),  then  in  its  just  equivalents,  either  by 
pensioning  the  survivors  of  the  slave  system — many  who 
are  to-day  in  abject  squalor  and  want — or  by  a  liberal 
grant  of  money  to  the  schools  of  the  land  charged  with 
the  educational  development  of  their  much  proscribed 
posterity. 

What  of  the  race's  mental  condition  at  the  time  of  its 
civic  birth?  There  were  scarcely  any  at  that  time  who 

466 


ERNEST  LYON 

could  either  read  or  write  with  any  degree  of  proficiency. 
Not  because  they  were  incapable  of  learning;  not  because 
of  any  mental  inferiority;  but  because  of  the  cruel  and 
unjust  law  prohibiting  their  education  and  making  it  a 
criminal  offense,  not  only  for  the  Negro  himself,  but  for 
any  white  man  who  should  undertake  to  instruct  him. 
Punishment  was  so  severe  along  this  line  that  the  very 
sight  of  a  book  awed  him  into  fear  and  fright.  The  very 
existence  of  such  a  law  was,  indeed,  an  admission  of  the 
educational  possibilities  of  the  race.  In  the  year  1863 
there  were  about  twenty  members  of  the  race  who  had 
received  collegiate  training.  Mathematically  speaking, 
it  took  three  hundred  years  to  pull  twenty  Negroes 
through  the  colleges  of  the  land,  so  great  was  the  combi 
nation  against  our  mental  development. 

What  was  our  status  in  the  business  pursuits  and  gain 
ful  occupations  at  that  time?  The  year  1863  is  as  far 
back  as  we  desire  to  go  for  this  enquiry,  when  the  entire 
race,  with  but  a  few  exceptions,  were  servants,  restricted 
to  menial  employment  and  plantation  occupations. 

What  was  the  moral  status  of  the  race  at  that  period? 
Here  there  are  two  sides  involved  in  any  answer  which 
might  be  given  to  this  question.  The  evidences  of  unlaw- 
fuJ  miscegenation  present  themselves  to  every  traveler 
throughout  this  country,  and  is  in  itself  a  pertinent 
answer  to  this  query.  Our  women  have  had  to  fight 
against  indescribable  odds  in  order  to  preserve  their 
womanhood  from  the  attacks  of  moral  lepers,  who,  very 
often,  were  their  masters  and  overseers.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
these  well-known  facts,  we  have  produced  women  among 

467 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

us  of  pure  and  good  morals,  with  unimpeachable  reputa 
tion  for  virtue  and  purity.  Sometimes  it  is  a  little  amus 
ing  to  hear  the  white  American  expatiate  on  the  immoral 
ity  of  Negro  women.  They  certainly  cannot  forget  their 
own  record  in  their  dealings  with  the  helpless  Negro 
women  of  this  country.  But  here,  we  will  let  the  curtain 
of  secrecy  fall  upon  such  a  scene,  while  we  shall  advance 
to  a  higher  and  nobler  plane  upon  this  day  when  nothing 
but  good  feeling  must  be  allowed  a  place  on  the  pro 
gramme. 

"Watchman,  what  of  the  night? "  What  tidings  does 
the  morning  bring,  if  any?  Has  the  future  nothing  in 
store  for  America's  greatest  factors  in  her  industrial  and 
commercial  development? 

Let  us  turn  from  the  past;  what  of  the  present?  In 
spite  of  the  dehumanizing  and  other  efforts  to  destroy  the 
fecundity  of  the  race,  the  twenty  Africans  of  1620,  by  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  had  increased  to  650,000,  and 
these  650,000,  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  had  reached 
the  alarming  number  of  four  and  one-half  millions;  and 
these  four  and  a  half  millions,  had,  according  to  the  last 
Federal  Census,  reached  the  astonishing  number  of  ten 
millions  or  more  of  native-born  citizens — entitled,  though 
sometimes  denied,  to  every  right  and  privilege  granted 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  by  the 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments  thereof;  the  mak 
ing  and  sustaining  of  which  our  fathers  contributed  much 
of  their  blood  and  sacrifice,  in  peace,  as  well  as  in  war. 

For  we  have  been  present,  not  only  as  spectators,  but 
as  active  participants  in  every  trying  crisis  in  the  history 

468 


ERNEST  LYON 

of  this  nation.  In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  labor  troubles  threatened  the  very  life  of 
the  infant  colony  and  continuing  to  the  founding  of  the 
Republic — when  white  men  were  held  in  peonage  or 
actual  bondage  for  the  uncanceled  financial  obligations 
due  to  the  nobility  of  Great  Britain — who  furnished  the 
labor  which  solved  the  vexed  problem?  Who  furnished 
the  brawn  and  muscle  which  cleared  the  forests,  leveled 
the  hills,  tunneled  the  mountains,  bridged  the  rivers, 
laid  the  tracks  and  cultivated  the  fields,  until  this  broad 
land  had  become  as  beautiful  as  the  lily  of  the  valley  and 
as  fragrant  as  the  rose  of  Sharon? 

In  1776,  when  despotism  was  enthroned  and  liberty 
languished  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  was  it  not  the  blood 
of  a  Negro — Crispus  Attucks — which  animated  the 
sinking  spirit  of  the  Goddess,  who  was  almost  ready  to 
die  under  the  oppression  of  King  George  and  the  des 
potism  of  Cornwallis? 

In  the  Sixties — when  Lincoln,  despairing  of  the  out 
come  of  the  Civil  War,  on  account  of  the  treachery  in  his 
own  ranks  and  repeated  reverses  on  the  battle-field, 
called  for  75,000  volunteers  to  suppress  the  Rebellion  in 
the  South — who  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  Union?  In 
spite  of  the  effort  of  McClellan  and  his  company  of  50,000 
soldiers,  who  went  to  Richmond  to  prevent  "niggers," 
as  they  were  called,  from  enlisting,  who  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  Union?  Whose  blood  helped  to  render  the  testa 
ment  of  liberty  valid?  Ask  Port  Hudson  and  Milligan's 
Bend,  and  Fort  Wagner,  and  Fort  Pillow,  and  Pittsburg 
Landing,  how  the  nearly  200,000  Negro  soldiers  behaved 

469 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

themselves  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy  on  these  memor 
able  battlefields — rendered  sacred  by  their  patriotic 
blood. 

Who  saved  the  Rough  Riders  and  Colonel  Roosevelt 
in  the  late  Spanish- American  War,  when  San  Juan  was 
illuminated  with  the  fire  of  Spanish  cannonading?  Hark! 
Methinks  I  hear  the  tramp  of  the  black  boys  of  the  24th 
and  the  25th  Cavalry,  chanting  to  the  strains  of  martial 
music, — "Glory  Hallelujah,  we  are  going  to  have  a  hot 
time  in  the  old  town  to-night,"  as  they  dashed  up  the 
dangerous  parapet  to  defend  the  honor  of  their  country, 
and  to  keep  "Old  Glory"  from  trailing  in  the  dust. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  we  were  without  homes, 
lands,  or  money.  To-day,  according  to  the  last  census  of 
the  United  States,  we  own  600,000  homes,  20,000,000 
acres  of  farm  land,  covering  an  area  equal  to  the  political 
dominions  of  the  kingdoms  of  Belgium  and  Holland. 
We  have  under  cultivation  40,000,000  acres  of  farm  lands, 
including  those  farms  rented  by  our  people  and  those 
owned  in  fee-simple,  and  worth  $500,000,000.  The  gross 
incomes  from  the  farms  conducted  by  Negroes  amount 
to  $250,000,000  annually.  We  own  10,000  business 
establishments,  300  drug  stores,  and  57  banks. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  we  were  without  schools, 
without  men  of  letters,  without  men  in  the  various  profes 
sions  and  lucrative  avocations  of  life.  To-day,  we  have 
200  universities,  colleges,  and  schools  of  lower  grade  sup 
ported  by  the  race.  We  have  3,000,000  Negro  children 
attending  these  schools  and  the  public  schools  of  the  land. 
We  have  written  2,000  books.  We  edit  and  conduct  200 

470 


ERNEST  LYON 

periodicals  and  magazines.  In  forty  years  we  have  con 
tributed,  as  levies  for  school  purposes,  $45,000,000. 
With  a  membership  of  4,000,000  we  have  35,000  churches, 
valued  at  $56,000,000,  and  contribute  annually  $7,500,000 
to  their  support.  We  contribute  annually  $6,000,000  to 
secret  and  benevolent  societies.  We  have  about  40,000 
teachers,  1,500  lawyers,  2,500  doctors,  20,000  preachers, 
and  80,000  business  men — Marvellous! — Marvellous! 
A  race  that  can  produce  in  fifty  years,  beginning  with 
nothing,  such  a  report  as  this,  whose  minutest  detail  is 
supported  by  official  statistics,  needs  no  pity,  Mr.  Chair 
man.  A  race  that  can  produce  a  Douglass,  a  Langs  ton,  a 
Hood,  a  Scott,  a  Turner,  a  Harvey  Johnson,  a  Bruce,  a 
Payne,  an  Arnett,  a  Revells,  a  Price,  an  Elliott,  a  Mont 
gomery,  a  Bowen,  a  Mason,  a  Dunbar,  a  Du  Bois,  and 
last  but  not  least,  a  Booker  T.  Washington — the  foremost 
genius  of  our  vocational  and  industrial  training — asks  not 
for  pity.  It  only  asks  for  an  equal  opportunity  in  the 
race  of  life;  it  asks  not  for  special  legislation  to  accom 
modate  any  necessity;  it  simply  asks  for  a  just  application 
of  existing  laws  to  all  citizens  alike,  without  any  reference 
to  race  or  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.  The 
representatives  of  this  race,  in  this  year  of  Our  Lord, 
1913,  ask  the  American  people  to  judge  them  upon  the 
record  of  their  great  and  useful  men  and  women  which 
the  race  has  produced  in  less  than  a  half  century — and 
upon  the  average  merit  of  the  mass  of  the  race  since  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was  issued  by  the  immortal 
Lincoln. 

471 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

In  concluding  this  brief  summary — for  at  best  it  can 
only  be  regarded  as  a  brief  summary  of  the  doings  of  the 
race — and  standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  era  in 
politics,  in  commerce,  in  religion  and  in  ethics — a  new  era 
in  the  feeling  and  temper  of  the  white  American  towards 
the  Afro-American,  I  ask  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
what  shall  be  our  conduct  in  the  future?  Watchman, 
what  shall  be  the  forecast? 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  forecast  is  bright — brighter  than 
it  has  ever  been  in  any  previous  period  of  the  race's  his 
tory  in  this  nation — and  I  make  this  statement  in  the 
fullest  appreciation  of  the  efforts  which  are  being  made  all 
over  this  land,  by  adverse  legislation,  to  weed  us  out  of 
politics  and  other  public  preferments;  to  push  us  into  a 
corner  to  ourselves,  in  both  Church  and  State — a  propa 
ganda  which  has  brought  gloom  to  many  of  our  leaders, 
producing  a  pessimism  inimical  to  progress. 

But  why  a  pessimistic  outlook,  Mr.  Chairman?  Is  it 
possible  to  deprive  ten  million  native-born  American 
citizens  from  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights  and  privileges, 
guaranteed  alike  to  all  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States?  I  think  not.  Such  a  condition,  Mr.  Chairman, 
would  be  like  an  established  government  with  no  diplo 
matic  representative  at  court.  No  matter  what  methods 
are  adopted,  some  of  the  representative  men  of  our  race, 
unexpectedly  or  otherwise,  in  the  final  analysis,  will  slip 
in;  if  not  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  then  in  the 
legislatures  and  in  the  municipal  governments  of  the 
State — such,  for  example,  as  Lawyer  Bass  in  Philadelphia, 
Pa.;  Councilman  Cummings  in  Baltimore;  Smith  in  the 

472 


ERNEST  LYON 

legislature  of  Ohio;  Fitzgerald  in  New  Jersey,  and  Jackson 
in  Illinois.  No  arrangement,  no  matter  how  planned,  can 
ultimately  defeat  this  logical  result  which  patience  alone 
will  produce. 

God  and  Tune,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are  important 
factors  in  the  solution  of  these  questions.  Fifty  years  are 
not  sufficient  to  determine  the  possibilities  of  a  race.  No 
seer  who  knew  the  ancestors  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  as 
Caesar  knew  them,  would  have  foretold  such  a  future  as 
they  now  enjoy.  This  Anglo-Saxon  race,  whose  ancestors 
worshipped  the  mistletoe,  offered  human  sacrifices,  and 
drank  wine  out  of  human  skulls,  have  now  become  the 
conquerors  and  the  dominant  race  on  the  earth.  Their 
literature  is  the  cream  of  the  human  intellect,  and  their 
tongue  promises  to  become  the  official  lingua  of  the  earth. 
God  and  Time  have  wrought  these  things  for  them,  and 
what  God  and  Time  have  wrought  for  one  race,  God  and 
Time  can  accomplish  for  another  race — if  that  race  remain 
true  to  itself  and  to  God. 

If  you  ask  me  for  the  ground  of  my  optimism,  I 
reply  it  is  based  upon  two  things,  namely,  the  ability  of 
the  race  itself  to  overcome  difficulties  and  obstacles,  and 
the  over-ruling  Providence  of  God,  based  upon  His  justice 
and  His  righteousness.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  this 
Negro  race  to  experience  any  greater  difficulties  and 
obstacles  in  the  future  than  it  has  already  experienced  in 
the  past.  It  has  overcome  every  obstacle  with  heroic 
courage — from  slavery  to  the  present  period  of  its  mar 
vellous  success.  Without  discounting  the  human  efforts 
of  the  race,  it  has  accomplished  all  of  this  by  an  heroic 

473 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

faith  in  God  and  in  the  justice  and  righteousness  of  His 
character  as  practised  by  our  ancestors  in  the  days  of 
their  bitterest  afflictions — when  weakness  characterized 
the  arm  of  flesh.  Personally,  I  believe  in  God  and  in 
His  justice  and  righteousness,  and  I  have  never  lost  faith 
in  the  benevolent  brotherhood  of  mankind.  I  believe 
that  "Right,  like  God  is  eternal  and  unchangeable;  and 
since  Right  is  Right  and  God  is  God,  Right  must 
ultimately  prevail;  though  its  final  triumph  may  be 
retarded  by  the  operation  of  wicked  devices — neverthe 
less — it  must  prevail. " 


474 


-THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO  CHURCH* 

BY  HON.  JOHN  C.  DANCY,  LL.D. 

Secretary  Church  Extension  Society,  A.  M.  E.  Church 

There  is  only  one  safe  way  to  judge  the  future  of 
the  Negro  Church,  and  that  is  by  its  past.  And  the  past 
of  this  Church,  despite  its  shortcomings,  is  safe. 

To  the  curious  it  would  seem  strange  that  the  Negro 
Church  as  such  should  exist  at  all.  But  in  the  light  of 
its  history,  covering  almost  the  entire  history  of  this 
Government,  its  existence  has  been  proved  a  necessity,  as 
its  records  abundantly  testify. 

Until  we  had  the  Negro  Church  we  had  nothing  of 
which  the  race  could  boast.  We  early  discovered  that 
it  was  religious  rights  which  first  opened  our  eyes  to 
all  our  rights,  but  until  we  were  secure  in  the  enjoyment 
of  our  religious  liberty,  we  were  not  fully  aroused  to  the 
importance  and  value  of  civil  liberty.  We  had  not  learned 
that  they  were  twin  blessings  often  dearly  bought,  but  of 
inestimable  value. 

The  Negro  Church,  therefore,  became  the  basis  upon 
which  would  be  reared  the  superstructure  of  all  our 
subsequent  achievements.  The  men  who  laid  the  founda 
tion  for  the  Negro  Church,  whether  of  Methodist,  or 

*  Delivered  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  Phila 
delphia,  September,  1913. 

475 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Baptist,  or  Episcopalian,  or  Presbyterian,  or  of  Con 
gregational  predilection,  were  wise  in  their  day  and 
generation,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  best  work  of 
Negro  development  ever  undertaken  in  this  country. 
Until  we  had  the  Negro  Church,  we  had  not  the  Negro 
school,  and  the  one  was  the  natural  forerunner  and 
concomitant  of  the  other,  opening  up  avenues  for  the 
preacher,  the  teacher,  the  lawyer,  the  physician,  the 
editor,  the  orator,  and  the  spokesman  of  and  for  the  race. 

***** 

The  Negro  Church  has  passed  the  experimental  stage. 
It  is  no  longer  in  a  stage  of  incubation.  It  is  an  actuality, 
— an  active,  aggressive,  and  progressive  reality.  It  has 
thoroughly  established  its  rights  to  existence  and  its  indi- 
spensability  as  a  religious  force  and  influence.  Our  relig 
ious  fervor  may  at  times  appear  to  be  unduly  emotional 
and  lacking  in  solemnity,  but  even  this  is  pardonable, 
and  we  are  reminded  that  this  is  an  emotional  age,  and 
we  must  not  forget  that  the  great  Penticostal  awakening, 
in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  provoked  a  similar 
criticism  from  the  unaroused  and  unaffected  unbelievers. 
The  Negro  Church  of  the  future  may  be  less  emotional, 
but  if  the  Church  is  to  survive  and  throw  off  a  cold 
formality  which  threatens  to  sap  its  very  life-blood, 
it  must  not  get  away  from  its  time-honored,  deep  spirit 
uality,  for  without  the  Spirit  the  seemingly  religious 
body  is  dead.  Our  Church  of  the  future  as  well  as  our 
Church  of  the  present  will  take  care  that  no  new  dogmas 
of  exotic  growth  will  deprive  it  of  those  eternal  verities 
which  constitute  the  fundamentals  of  our  Christian 

476 


JOHN  C.  DANC7 

faith.  These  verities  of  our  religion  have  their  founda 
tion  in  the  teachings  of  our  Great  Redeemer  himself, 
who  is  the  very  embodiment  of  all  Truth. 

The  Negro  Church  of  the  future  will  address  itself 
to  the  correction  of  present-day  evils  in  both  Church 
and  State.  It  will  emphasize  tfae  teaching  that  the 
highest  form  of  virtue  is  the  purest  form  of  love.  It 
will  demand  that  men  and  women,  and  Christian  profess 
ors  especially,  exemplify  in  their  own  lives  and  habits 
the  religion  they  make  bold  to  proclaim.  It  will  insist 
upon  the  remedying  of  great  wrongs  from  which  countless 
numbers  suffer, — whether  these  wrongs  be  unfair  and 
unjust  discriminations  in  public  places,  on  the  common 
thoroughfares,  in  the  courts  and  halls  of  justice,  in  the 
Congress,  the  legislature  or  the  municipal  councils,— 
everywhere  the  Church  will  condemn  and  protest  and 
fulminate  against  these  injustices,  until  they  melt  away 
with  the  certainty  of  April  snow.  The  Church  of  the 
future  will  more  fully  realize  that  where  great  principles 
are  involved,  concessions  are  dangerous  and  compro 
mises  disastrous. 

The  future  will  disclose  a  Negro  Church  with  men  in 
all  its  pulpits  equal  to  the  great  task  which  the  responsibil 
ities  thereof  impose.  They  will  be  qualified  men  from 
every  viewpoint — deeply  spiritual,  well  trained,  pious, 
influential,  impressive,  strong.  They  will  lead  their 
people,  and  be  a  part  of  their  life,  their  indomitable 
spirit,  their  ambitions,  their  achievements.  They  will 
be  absolutely  trusted  and  trustworthy.  They  will  be 
an  inspiration  to  our  youth,  to  our  manhood  and  our 

477 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

womanhood.  They  will  speak  as  one  having  authority 
and  they  will  boldly  assert  their  authority  to  speak. 
They  will  take  up  where  the  fathers  left  off,  and  they* 
in  their  possession  of  so  great  an  inheritance  of  religious 
fervor  and  unshrinking  faith,  will  arouse  Christianity 
from  its  lethargy,  and  start  as  a  nation  of  believers, 
arousing,  as  it  were,  from  its  spell  of  years.  They  will 
be  as  bold  as  lions,  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as 
doves.  They  will  win  their  way  because  the  things  for 
which  they  stand  and  the  gospel  which  they  preach, 
will  deserve  to  win.  They  will  not  seek  so  much  to 
impress  their  own  personality,  but  their  cause,  and  they 
will  lose  themselves  in  the  cause  by  magnifying  the 

cause. 

***** 

The  Negro  Church  of  the  future  will  take  greater 
interest  in  the  young  people,  will  give  greater  attention 
to  the  Sunday-school  work,  to  the  young  people's  socie 
ties,  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  to  the 
full  development  of  all  the  departments  of  all  the  churches 
of  whatever  denomination,  to  the  end  that  the  churches 
will  be  thoroughly  organized  for  work,  and  such  work 
as  will  lead  eventually  to  the  thorough  evangelization  of 
the  world.  The  redemption  of  Africa,  one  of  the  forward 
movements  of  the  world  to-day,  must  come  largely 
through  the  efforts,  the  service,  and  the  personal  sacri 
fices  of  our  own  churches,  our  own  ministers  and  teachers, 
our  own  men  and  women.  Once  fully  aroused  to  the  im 
portance  of  the  obligation  we  owe  to  the  land  of  our 
forefathers,  we  will  enter  upon  the  task  with  all  the 

478 


JOHN  C.  DANCY 

zest  and  spirit  of  David  Livingstone,  whose  one  hundredth 
anniversary  we  are  celebrating  this  year,  as  we  are  also 
celebrating  the  first  half  century  of  our  emancipation 
from  human  slavery.  Livingstone  sacrificed  himself 
in  the  heart  of  Africa  in  order  to  give  life  and  light  to 
the  aborigines  of  the  Dark  Continent.  Our  Church  of  the 
future  must  take  up  the  task  so  grandly  undertaken  by 
him,  and  cease  not  until  the  work  he  so  nobly  began  finds 
its  full  fruitage  in  Africa's  redemption  from  heathendom, 
superstition,  and  ignorance,  that  she  may  take  her  place 

among  the  civilized  and  enlightened  people  of  the  world. 
***** 

The  Church  of  the  future  will  have  to  do  with  the 
life  of  its  membership.  It  will  take  heed  to  its  health, 
and  will  teach  hygiene  and  the  laws  which  safeguard 
one's  health  in  the  home,  in  the  Church,  in  the  public 
schools  and  public  places,  in  the  open  air  and  where  not. 
It  will  impress  the  lesson  of  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body,  and  the  great  need  of  a  sound  body  in  order  to  have 
a  sound  mind.  It  will  not  fear  to  declare  in  favor  of 
pure  athletics  as  a  means  of  developing  the  physical 
system,  which  is  so  essential  to  sound  health  and  a 
strong  manhood.  The  boys  and  young  men  will  be  urged 
to  identify  themselves  with  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso 
ciations  so  as  to  have  advantage  of  the  reading-rooms, 
the  swimming-pools,  the  gymnasiums,  and  other  young 
men's  society,  thus  eschewing  the  dens  of  vice  and  haunts 
of  infamy  which  might  otherwise  attract  them  and 
blight  their  precious  young  lives  for  all  time,  it  may  be.  It 
will  take  knowledge  of  human  life  and  its  means  of  exist- 

479 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ence  everywhere.  It  will  seek  to  know  what  the  man  and 
woman  in  the  alley  as  well  as  those  on  the  broad  thorough 
fare  are  doing, — whether  they  are  oppressed  or  distressed 
in  body  or  in  mind,  and  to  go  to  their  relief.  It  will  dis 
cover  that  man  is  his  brother's  keeper,  and  is  largely 
responsible  for  him  and  must  seek  to  take  care  of  him. 
The  Church,  yea,  will  come  to  itself  and  be  shorn  of  a 
great  part  of  its  pride,  when  it  fully  realizes  that  its 
real  growth  and  prosperity  are  dependent  upon  the 
attention  it  pays  to  God's  poor  and  God's  neglected. 
Our  churches  will  re-echo  with  the  sentiment  of  that 
song,  "God  Will  Take  Care  of  You,"  but  there  must  be 
a  refreshing  application  of  it,  knowing  that  caretaking 
reaches  further  than  ourselves  and  extends  to  our  neg 
lected  brother,  whom  we,  so  oftentimes,  have  forgotten. 
If  the  Church  is  no  stronger  than  it  is  to-day  it  is  due 
chiefly  to  the  neglect  of  the  unfortunate  many  who  have 
been  unreached  and  need  to  be  reached. 

The  Church  of  the  future  must  humble  its  pride,  buckle 
on  its  armor,  and  cease  not  in  its  labors  until  this  great 
army  of  unreached  is  reached  and  helped,  and  impressed 
and  convinced  and  saved.  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  my  Gospel,"  does  not  mean  to  distant  people 
merely,  but  to  people  at  home  as  well,  many  of  whom 
know  as  little  of  the  Gospel  as  many  others  in  distant 
Africa.  There  must  be,  there  will  be,  a  religious  awaken 
ing  along  this  line,  so  that  if  the  people  do  not  go  to 
the  Church,  then  the  Church  must  go  to  the  people, 
and  there  will  be  thousands,  in  the  next  few  years  in 
answer  to  the  question,  "Who  will  go?"  who  will  answer 

480 


JOHN  C.  DANCY 

in  language  which  cannot  be  misunderstood,  "Here  am 
I,  send  me." 

The  Church  of  the  future  will  have  to  do  with  the 
greater  problems  of  every  day  life.  It  will  have  to  aid 
hi  teaching  the  people  life  and  duty  and  how  best  to 
meet  and  battle  with  these.  It  will  have  to  impress  the 
importance  of  home-getting, — whether  in  city  or  on  farm, 
— and  the  possessing  of  these  in  fee  simple,  by  actual 
purchase,  and  we  will  become  more  valuable  as  citizens 
as  we  acquire  more  in  our  individual  right  in  real  and 

personal  property. 

*    *    *    *    * 

The  Church  of  the  future  will  urge  the  starting  of 
savings  accounts  with  the  youth,  and  the  organization 
of  savings  banks  among  our  people  in  all  sections,  and 
the  opening,  incidentally,  of  opportunities  for  our  boys 
and  girls  to  get  in  close  touch  with  business  life  and  busi 
ness  habits.  We  will  thus  make  the  Church  an  in 
fluence,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  in  paving  the  way 
for  the  future  financial  and  substantial  importance  of  the 
race.  The  Negro  Church  of  the  future  will  be  less 
fettered  by  denominational  lines  and  possessed  of  a 
broader  Christian  spirit,  recognizing  denominational 
names  of  course,  but  laying  greater  stress  on  Christian 
ity,  than  on  any  church  allegiance.  Methodists,  Bap 
tists,  and  Presbyterians,  and  Congregationalists,  and 
Episcopalians  will  interchange  pulpits  and  preach  one 
Gospel  in  the  name  of  our  common  Lord,  Who  is  in  all, 
and  through  all  and  over  all.  There  will  be  inter-denom 
inational  Sunday-school  unions,  Church  conventions  and 

481 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

conferences,  and  the  ministers  and  congregations  will 
be  in  closer  union,  praying  for  the  same  spiritual  power, 
the  same  common  blessings,  and  the  removal  of  the  same 
great  evils.  Judah  wDl  not  vex  Ephraim,  and  Ephraim 
will  not  vex  Judah.  Under  the  mighty  influence  of  this 
commingling  and  oneness  of  heart  and  purpose 

"Error  will  decay  and  Truth  grow  strong 
And  right  shall  rule  supreme  and  conquer  wrong." 
***** 

To  Thee!  God  of  our  fathers,  we  render  praise 
and  thanksgiving  for  such  abundant  evidence  of  Thy 
guiding  presence  during  these  fifty  years  of  freedom 
and  civil  liberty.  We  predict  for  the  future  on  the  basis 
of  our  achievement  during  the  past;  and  since  the  Negro 
Church  has  been  a  great  factor  in  lifting  us  up  and  en 
abling  us  to  see  the  new  light,  in  spite  of  many  obstacles, 
we  are  confident  that  by  following  the  same  Omni 
potent  Hand,  that  never  errs  and  never  fails,  we  will, 
in  the  coming  years,  prove  that  no  sacrifice,  either  in 
war  or  in  peace,  made  in  our  behalf  has  been  made  in 
vain,  and  no  service  rendered  us  has  been  without  its 
subsequent  reward.  We  rejoice,  and  are  glad  in  our 
gladness  and  rich  in  our  wealth.  In  the  midst  of  it  all, 
the  Negro  Church  survives  and  is  steadily  moving  on. 


482 


THE  NEGRO  LAWYER;     HIS  OPPORTUNITY, 
HIS  DUTY* 

BY  W.  ASHBIE  HAWKINS 
Of  the  Baltimore  Bar 

Gentlemen: 

The  legal  profession  is  without  doubt  in  the  lead.  Its 
devotees  outrank  all  others  in  service  to  the  government 
and  they  come  the  closest  in  personal  contact  to  the  in 
dividual.  This  is  denied  of  course,  and  always  will  be 
denied  by  men  of  all  other  professions,  but  when  the 
roster  of  the  world's  lawyers  who  have  faithfully  and 
efficiently  served  humanity  in  every  conceivable  way 
is  pitted  against  that  of  the  others,  the  question  is  re 
lieved  of  all  doubt.  The  Negro  lawyer  is  no  longer  an 
experiment.  He  has  been  severely  tried  from  within  and 
without,  and  he  has  proved  his  worth.  His  place  in  our 
economy  is  fixed.  He  has  demonstrated  his  capacity 
to  serve,  and  to  serve  well,  and  for  all  of  this  both  the 
lawyer  and  the  race  he  is  helping  to  advance  are  under 
lasting  obligations  to  Howard  University.  She  has  to 
her  credit  more  men  who  are  actively  and  successfully 


*  An  address  at  the  opening  of  Howard  University  Law  School,  Washing 
ton,  D.  C,  Oct.  ist,  1913. 

483 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

pursuing  their  calling  than  any  other  institution  of  learn 
ing  in  this  land. 

*    *    *    *    * 

The  Negro  race  is  probably  to-day  in  greater  need  of 
consecrated  lawyers  than  it  is  of  pious  priests.  The  time 
has  come  for  the  lawyer  to  take  his  place  in  the  lead. 
We  are  celebrating  this  year  the  $oth  anniversary  of 
our  emancipation,  and,  paradoxical  though  it  may  be, 
we  appear  further  from  emancipation  to-day  than  when 
Lincoln  signed  his  Emancipation  Proclamation,  or 
when  Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox.  It  is  quite  true 
that  we  have  an  immensely  larger  realty-holding  to  our 
credit,  that  our  financial  worth  is  constantly  on  the  in 
crease,  that  our  illiteracy  is  rapidly  reaching  the  vanish 
ing-point,  and  that  in  all  matters,  spiritual  as  well  as 
temporal,  we  seem  to  have  improved,  but  the  closer  we 
approximate  the  standard  of  life  and  living  of  the  dom 
inant  race,  all  the  harder  apparently  have  we  to  fight  to 
maintain  our  self-respect,  and  preserve  the  rights  and 
privileges  which  the  letter  of  our  American  law  guar 
antees.  When  we  were  slaves  and  had  nothing  except 
our  muscles,  there  was  no  thought  of  separate-car  laws. 
When  we  were  ignorant  and  powerless  to  think  coher 
ently,  there  were  no  efforts  at  our  disfranchisement. 
When  we  were  poverty-stricken  and  satisfied  if  we 
might  live  in  the  alleys  of  our  great  American  cities, 
there  was  no  thought  of  segregation,  whether  in  the  matter 
of  our  residences,  or  in  that  of  the  employees  of  our 
much-heralded  republican  government.  With  every 
increase  in  accomplishment,  or  worth,  or  demand  for 

484 


W.  ASHBIE  HAWKINS 

the  better  things  of  life,  comes  the  burden  of  wrongs, 
injustice,  and  rash  discrimination.  It  would  be  idle 
here  to  attempt  to  recount  in  detail  the  grievances  we 
justly  have  against  the  government  in  city,  state  and 
nation;  to  do  so  further  than  the  purpose  I  have  in  view 
would  be  but  to  tell  you  what  you  full  well  know.  The 
Negro  race  needs  a  change  of  viewpoint;  another  leader 
ship  is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  I  see  no  reason  why  men 
of  our  profession  should  not  attain  it.  For  years  we  have 
had  in  the  ascendency  the  prophets  of  submission  and 
silence;  and  we  have  been  taught  to  declare  for  peace 
when  we  knew  there  was  no  peace.  No  other  element 
in  our  great  nation,  except  that  of  ourselves  is  content 
with  things  as  they  are,  accepting  without  protest  every 
new  injustice,  in  the  vain  hope  that  some  day  would 
bring  about  a  change  for  the  better.  We  have  lulled 
ourselves  to  sleep  with  this  fatalism,  and  what  is  the 
result?  We  have  noted  the  practical  nullification  of 
every  act  suggested  or  inspired  by  the  changing  conditions 
in  the  lives  and  property  of  freedmen  brought  about  by 
the  Civil  War.  Disfranchisement  in  every  Southern 
State  is  as  fixed  and  determinate,  as  the  indifference  of 
the  Negroes  of  those  sections,  or  the  practises  of  all 
political  parties  can  make  it.  Separate,  and  therefore 
inferior,  accommodations  on  public  conveyances  are  the 
rule,  and  we  have  endured  these  conditions  so  long  that 
it  would  appear  almost  cruel  now  to  undertake,  or  to 
ask  a  change.  We  have  noted  further,  and  this  is  the 
saddest  of  all,  that  our  inactivity  in  claiming  our  rights, 
or  our  indifference  about  their  recognition,  has  not 

485 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

only  emboldened  our  enemies,  but  it  has  silenced  our 
friends. 

We  have  seen  with  increasing  alarm  the  judicial  con 
struction  of  statutes  and  the  Constitution  itself,  which 
all  but  vitiate  and  annul  the  basis  of  our  citizenship; 
we  have  seen  repeated  attempts  made  to  discredit  the 
War  amendments  to  the  national  Constitution,  and  some 
have  in  all  seriousness  gone  so  far  even  as  to  question 
their  constitutionality.  Every  student  of  our  common  law 
has  always  been  sure  of  the  right  to  private  property, 
and  the  corollaries  thereto,  but  it  is  just  in  the  present 
year  that  a  court  of  last  resort  in  a  neighboring  State, 
in  an  interpretation  of  one  of  these  new  conceptions, 
a  segregation  ordinance,  declared  that  while  the  one 
under  investigation  was  invalid,  that  the  municipality 
enacting  it  might  under  its  police  powers  make  provision 
for  the  segregation  of  the  races  in  the  matter  of  their 
residences,  schools,  churches,  and  places  of  public  assem 
bly.  The  law  is  not  a  fixed  science;  it  is  more  properly 
growth,  a  development.  What  is  not  regarded  as  law 
to-day  may,  by  the  inactivity  or  indifference  of  those 
most  deeply  concerned,  become  the  law  of  the  next  de 
cade.  So  we  behold  to-day  our  rights  and  liberties 
drifting  away  from  us,  and  that  regarded  as  the  law 
which  years  ago  we  deemed  impossible.  What  are  we 
to  do,  you  say?  What  can  we  do?  The  lawyers  trained 
here  and  in  other  institutions  of  learning  must  answer 
these  questions,  and  in  finding  their  answers  will  be  their 
opportunity.  The  adjudication  of  the  conflicting  in 
terests  of  mankind,  the  interpretation  of  our  statutes  and 

486 


W.  ASHBIE  HAWKINS 

our  common  law  the  determination  of  rights  and  priv 
ileges  of  all  men,  is  a  judicial  function.  What  rights  we 
enjoy  to-day  have  come  in  the  final  analysis  from  the 
courts.  What  rights  we  find  ourselves  to-day  deprived 
of,  and  which  we  hope  to  enjoy  to-morrow,  must  come, 
if  at  all,  from  the  same  source.  The  courts  have  the  last 
word,  and  it  is  to  that  instrument  of  government  we 
must  appeal,  and  to  that  last  word  we  must  look  for  our 
safety,  or  fear  our  doom.  But  courts  are  not  self-acting 
institutions,  and  they  are  not  engaged  in  academic 
discussions  of  abstractions.  They  are  severely  serious. 
It  may  be  that,  like  so  many  Americans,  we  have  lost 
faith  in  the  courts,  and  Heaven  knows  we  have  had 
abundant  reason  for  so  doing,  but  there's  hope.  They 
have  too  often  and  too  long  listened  to  the  clamors  of 
public  opinion,  put  too  much  faith  and  credit  in  the  utter 
ances  of  latter-day  journalism,  coloring  their  opinions  to 
suit  the  one,  or  to  escape  the  criticism  of  the  other.  Under 
the  pernicious  doctrine  of  public  policy  and  in  fortifying 
that  undefined  and  indefinable  legal  notion  of  police 
power,  courts  have  wiped  aside  Constitutional  limitations, 
and  disregarded  what  the  profession  at  least  had  learned 
to  consider  as  almost  fixed  precedents  of  the  law,  but 
even  with  all  these  defects  admitted,  there  remains  the 
startling  truth  that  to  these  governmental  agencies 
we  must  look  for  the  righting  of  our  wrongs  and  the 
redress  of  our  grievances.  We  have  shunned  the  courts 
too  often  in  our  temporal  affairs,  fearing,  it  seems,  further 
adverse  decisions,  or  waiting  a  proper  adjustment  at  some 
other  forum.  In  my  own  State  it  might  now  be  compul- 

487 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

sory  upon  you,  or  any  other  decent  self-respecting  person 
of  the  race,  in  travelling  from  here  to  New  York  or 
elsewhere  in  the  North,  to  ride  in  the  so-called  "Jim- 
Crow"  cars  provided  by  an  indulgent  Maryland  legis 
lature  for  Negro  patrons  of  its  railroads,  had  it  not  have 
been  for  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  this  institution. 
William  H.  H.  Hart  knew  that  legislation  of  that  charac 
ter  was  an  attempt  to  restrict  interstate  traffic,  and 
the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Maryland  agreed  with  him. 
The  case  of  State  vs.  Hart,  reported  in  100  Md.  at  page 
595,  is  a  landmark  in  our  Maryland  law,  and  under  its 
influence  " Jim-Crow"  cars  have  almost  disappeared 
from  the  railroads  of  our  State.  Another  distinguished 
member  of  the  Faculty  of  Howard  University,  but  of 
another  department,  in  travelling  over  the  railroads  in  the 
eastern  part  of  our  State  last  fall,  discovered  that  the  com 
partments  provided  by  the  roads  for  their  colored  passen 
gers,  in  point  of  cleanliness,  appointment,  and  convenience, 
were  notably  inferior  to  those  furnished  others.  He  com 
plained  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  and,  after  a 
full  hearing,  the  Commission  passed  a  decree  requiring 
these  railroads  to  furnish  accommodations  to  its  colored 
passengers  equal  in  all  respects  to  that  furnished  others. 
This  is  exactly  what  the  Separate-Car  Law  provides, 
but  it  is  exactly  what  the  railroads  had  never  intended 
to  furnish  and,  without  the  complaint  of  Professor 
T.  W.  Turner,  no  other  course  would  have  been  followed. 
Here  are  two,  and  there  are  numerous  other  concrete 
examples  of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  sane  and 
timely  appeals  to  our  judicial  tribunals.  Our  government 

488 


W.  ASHBIE  HAWKINS 

has  three  well  defined  departments  separate  and  distinct, 
each  operating  in  a  manner  as  a  check  on  the  other,  and 
all  together  working  for  the  common  good  of  the  whole. 
We  have  resorted  generally  to  the  executive  and  have  been 
satisfied  with  its  appointment  of  a  few  men  to  office, 
and  with  its  passive  execution  of  the  laws  affecting  us.  In 
recent  years  we  have  arisen  to  the  point  of  seeking  legis 
lation  in  the  defense  of  our  civil  rights,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  as  the  years  pass  more  of  this  will  be  done.  But  in 
the  judicial  branch  of  the  government  is  where,  after  all, 
we  must  place  our  reliance.  We  need  a  body  of  trained 
lawyers  in  full  sympathy  with  our  community  life, 
eager,  anxious,  and  capable,  prepared  at  any  emergency 
to  present  our  cause  fairly  and  intelligently  before  any 
tribunal;  and  with  this  accomplished,  I  have  faith  in 
the  American  people  that  justice  will  prevail,  and  right 
triumph  over  every  wrong.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  lawyer 
is  to  seek  such  service  by  the  fomenting  of  litigation;  far 
from  it,  but  let  him  be  prepared  for  it  by  study  and  de 
votion  to  racial  ideals,  and  when  the  hour  comes  he  will 
be  called  on  to  marshal  its  forces  and  take  charge  of  the 
legal  contests  of  a  race.  This  will  never  be  if  he  dreams 
only  of  his  money,  if  he  thinks  only  of  present  material 
gain,  if  he  counts  his  successes  in  terms  of  houses  and  lands. 
He  must  be  willing  to  serve  for  the  sake  of  the  service. 
The  failures  in  our  professional  life  come  almost  wholly 
from  those  who  had  no  high  ideals  of  their  calling,  and  no 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  their  race  or  country.  Coun 
try  and  race  in  this  matter  are  synonymous;  you  can't 
serve  one  without  at  the  same  time  serving  the  other 

489 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

The  lawyer  who  advocates  the  protection  of  the  lives,  the 
property,  and  the  civic  welfare  of  ten  millions  of  Ameri 
cans  of  whatever  hue,  or  origin,  is  not  a  racial  zealot,  but  a 
patriot  of  the  highest  character,  and  his  worth  in  pre 
serving  the  nation's  ideals  is  beyond  calculation. 

Young  men,  you  who  are  either  about  to  leave  these 
halls  for  the  active  life  of  the  lawyer,  or  you  who  are  just 
beginning  the  pursuit  of  your  studies  here  looking  to  the 
same  end,  I  bring  you,  I  hope,  no  discouraging  note.  My 
aim  is  to  do  the  contrary.  The  heavy  burdens  the  race  is 
bearing  in  the  form  of  unjust  laws  and  practises,  in 
strained  constructions  of  statutes,  constitutions,  and  the 
common  law;  in  the  thousand  ways  which  the  ingenuity  of 
the  prejudiced  find  to  bar  us  from  the  full  enjoyment  of 
American  liberty  and  freedom,  these  will  some  day, 
along  with  those  of  us  who  are  now  at  the  bar,  furnish 
your  greatest  opportunity.  Your  duty  then,  as  now,  will 
be  to  fortify  yourselves  with  all  the  learning  which  this 
institution  provides,  with  all  that  the  libraries  in  your 
reach  contain,  with  all  that  close  and  intimate  associa 
tion  with  others  of  your  profession  will  secure,  with  sin 
cere  devotion  to  the  ideals  and  traditions  of  our  noble 
profession,  and  with  no  less  devotion  to  the  interest  of 
your  clients,  and  a  determination  faithfully  and  loyally 
and  efficiently  to  serve  your  race,  your  nation  and  your 
God. 


490 


THE  TRAINING  OF  NEGROES  FOR  SOCIAL 
REFORM* 

BY  W.  E.  BURGHARDT  Du  Bois,  PH.  D. 
Editor  and  Founder  "The  Crisis1' 

The  responsibility  for  their  own  social  regeneration 
ought  to  be  placed  largely  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Negro 
people.  But  such  responsibility  must  carry  with  it  a 
grant  of  power;  responsibility  without  power  is  a  mock 
ery  and  a  farce.  If,  therefore,  the  American  people  are 
sincerely  anxious  that  the  Negro  shall  put  forth  his  best 
efforts  to  help  himself,  they  must  see  to  it  that  he  is  not 
deprived  of  the  freedom  and  power  to  strive.  The  respon 
sibility  for  dispelling  their  own  ignorance  implies  that  the 
power  to  overcome  ignorance  is  to  be  placed  in  black  men's 
hands;  the  lessening  of  poverty  calls  for  the  power  of 
effective  work;  and  the  responsibility  for  lessening  crime 
calls  for  control  over  social  forces  which  produce  crime. 

Such  social  power  means,  assuredly,  the  growth  of 
initiative  among  Negroes,  the  spread  of  independent 
thought,  the  expanding  consciousness  of  manhood;  and 
these  things  to-day  are  looked  upon  by  many  with  appre 
hension  and  distrust.  Men  openly  declare  their  design 
to  train  these  millions  as  a  subject  caste,  as  men  to  be 

*  From  the  New  York  Outlook. 

491 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

thought  for,  but  not  to  think;  to  be  led,  but  not  to  lead 
themselves. 

Those  who  advocate  these  things  forget  that  such  a 
solution  flings  them  squarely  on  the  other  horn  of  the 
dilemma:  such  a  subject  child-race  could  never  be  held 
accountable  for  its  own  misdeeds  and  shortcomings;  its 
ignorance  would  be  part  of  the  nation's  design,  its  poverty 
would  arise  partly  from  the  direct  oppression  of  the  strong 
and  partly  from  thriftlessness  which  such  oppression 
breeds;  and,  above  all,  its  crime  would  be  the  legitimate 
child  of  that  lack  of  self-respect  which  caste  systems  en 
gender.  Such  a  solution  of  the  Negro  problem  is  not  one 
which  the  saner  sense  of  the  nation  for  a  moment  con 
templates;  it  is  utterly  foreign  to  American  institutions, 
and  is  unthinkable  as  a  future  for  any  self-respecting  race 
of  men.  The  sound  afterthought  of  the  American  people 
must  come  to  realize  that  the  responsibility  for  dis 
pelling  ignorance  and  poverty,  and  uprooting  crime  among 
Negroes  cannot  be  put  upon  their  own  shoulders  unless 
they  are  given  such  independent  leadership  in  intel 
ligence,  skill,  and  morality  as  will  inevitably  lead  to  an 
independent  manhood  which  cannot  and  will  not  rest  in 
bonds. 

Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  particularly  in  the  mat 
ter  of  educating  Negro  youth. 

The  Negro  problem,  it  has  often  been  said,  is  largely 
a  problem  of  ignorance — not  simply  of  illiteracy,  but  a 
deeper  ignorance  of  the  world  and  its  ways,  of  the  thought 
and  experience  of  men;  an  ignorance  of  self  and  the 
possibilities  of  human  souls.  This  can  be  gotten  rid  of 

492 


W.  E.  BURKHARDT  DUBOIS 

only  by  training;  and  primarily  such  training  must  take 
the  form  of  that  sort  of  social  leadership  which  we  call 
education.  To  apply  such  leadership  to  themselves 
and  to  profit  by  it,  means  that  Negroes  would  have 
among  themselves  men  of  careful  training  and  broad 
culture,  as  teachers  and  teachers  of  teachers.  There  are 
always  periods  of  educational  evolution  when  it  is  deemed 
quite  proper  for  pupils  in  the  fourth  reader  to  teach  those 
in  the  third.  But  such  a  method,  wasteful  and  ineffective 
at  all  times,  is  peculiarly  dangerous  when  ignorance  is 
widespread  and  when  there  are  few  homes  and  public  in 
stitutions  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  school.  It  is, 
therefore,  of  crying  necessity  among  Negroes  that  the 
heads  of  their  educational  system — the  teachers  in  the 
normal  schools,  the  heads  of  high  schools,  the  principals  of 
public  systems,  should  be  unusually  well  trained  men;  men 
trained  not  simply  in  common-school  branches,  not  simply 
in  the  technique  of  school  management  and  normal 
methods,  but  trained  beyond  this,  broadly  and  carefully, 
into  the  meaning  of  the  age  whose  civilization  it  is  their 
peculiar  duty  to  interpret  to  the  youth  of  a  new  race,  to 
the  minds  of  untrained  people.  Such  educationl  leaders 
should  be  prepared  by  long  and  rigorous  courses  of  study 
similar  to  those  which  the  world  over  have  been  designed 
to  strengthen  the  intellectual  powers,  fortify  character, 
and  facilitate  the  transmission  from  age  to  age  of  the 
stores  of  the  world's  knowledge. 

Not  all  men — indeed,  not  the  majority  of  men,  only 
the  exceptional  few  among  American  Negroes  or  among 
any  other  people — are  adapted  to  this  higher  training,  as, 

493 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

indeed,  only  the  exceptional  few  are  adapted  to  higher 
training  in  any  line;  but  the  significance  of  such  men  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  their  numbers,  but  rather  by  the 
numbers  of  their  pupils  and  followers  who  are  destined  to 
see  the  world  through  their  eyes,  hear  it  through  their 
trained  ears,  and  speak  to  it  through  the  music  of  their 
words. 

Such  men,  teachers  of  teachers  and  leaders  of  the 
untaught,  Atlanta  University  and  similar  colleges  seek  to 
train.  We  seek  to  do  our  work  thoroughly  and  carefully. 
We  have  no  predilections  or  prejudices  as  to  particular 
studies  or  methods,  but  we  do  cling  to  those  time-honored 
sorts  of  discipline  which  the  experience  of  the  world  has 
long  since  proven  to  be  of  especial  value.  We  sift  as  care 
fully  as  possible  the  student  material  which  offers  itself, 
and  we  try  by  every  conscientious  method  to  give  to 
students  who  have  character  and  ability  such  years  of 
discipline  as  shall  make  them  stronger,  keener,  and  better 
for  their  peculiar  mission.  The  history  of  civilization 
seems  to  prove  that  no  group  or  nation  which  seeks 
advancement  and  true  development  can  despise  or  neglect 
the  power  of  well- trained  minds;  and  this  power  of  intel 
lectual  leadership  must  be  given  to  the  talented  tenth 
among  American  Negroes  before  this  race  can  seriously 
be  asked  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  dispelling  its  own 
ignorance.  Upon  the  foundation-stone  of  a  few  well- 
equipped  Negro  colleges  of  high  and  honest  standards  can 
be  built  a  proper  system  of  free  common  schools  in  the 
South  for  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people;  any  attempt 
to  found  a  system  of  public  schools  on  anything  less  than 

494 


W.  E.  BURKHARDT  DUBOIS 

this — on  narrow  ideals,  limited  or  merely  technical  train 
ing — is  to  call  blind  leaders  for  the  blind. 

The  very  first  step  toward  the  settlement  of  the  Negro 
problem  is  the  spread  of  intelligence.  The  first  step 
toward  wider  intelligence  is  a  free  public-school  system; 
and  the  first  and  most  important  step  toward  a  public- 
school  system  is  the  equipment  and  adequate  support  of 
a  sufficient  number  of  Negro  colleges.  These  are  first 
steps,  and  they  involve  great  movements:  first,  the  best 
of  the  existent  colleges  must  not  be  abandoned  to  slow 
atrophy  and  death,  as  the  tendency  is  to-day;  secondly, 
systematic  attempt  must  be  made  to  organize  secondary 
education.  Below  the  colleges  and  connected  with  them 
must  come  the  normal  and  high  schools,  judiciously  dis 
tributed  and  carefully  manned.  In  no  essential  particular 
should  this  system  of  common  and  secondary  schools 
differ  from  educational  systems  the  world  over.  Their 
chief  function  is  the  quickening  and  training  of  human 
intelligence;  they  can  do  much  in  the  teaching  of  morals 
and  manners  incidentally,  but  they  cannot  and  ought  not 
to  replace  the  home  as  the  chief  moral  teacher;  they  can 
teach  valuable  lessons  as  to  the  meaning  of  work  in  the 
world,  but  they  cannot  replace  technical  schools  and  ap 
prenticeship  in  actual  life,  which  are  the  real  schools  of 
work.  Manual  training  can  and  ought  to  be  used  in  these 
schools,  -but  as  a  means  and  not  as  an  end — to  quicken 
intelligence  and  self-knowledge  and  not  to  teach  carpen 
try;  just  as  arithmetic  is  used  to  train  minds  and  not 
skilled  accountants. 

495 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

Whence,  now,  is  the  money  coming  for  this  educational 
system?  For  the  common  schools  the  support  should 
come  from  local  communities,  the  State  governments, 
and  the  United  States  Government;  for  secondary  edu 
cation,  support  should  come  from  local  and  State  govern 
ments  and  private  philanthropy;  for  the  colleges,  from 
private  philanthropy  and  the  United  States  Govern 
ment.  I  make  no  apology  for  bringing  the  United 
States  Government  in  thus  conspicuously.  The  General 
Government  must  give  aid  to  Southern  education  if  illit 
eracy  and  ignorance  are  to  cease  threatening  the  very 
foundations  of  civilization  within  any  reasonable  time. 
Aid  to  common  school  education  could  be  appropriated 
to  the  different  States  on  the  basis  of  illiteracy.  The  fund 
could  be  administered  by  State  officials,  and  the  results 
and  needs  reported  upon  by  United  States  educational 
inspectors  under  the  Bureau  of  Education.  The  States 
could  easily  distribute  the  funds  so  as  to  encourage  local 
taxation  and  enterprise  and  not  result  in  pauperizing  the 
communities.  As  to  higher  training,  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  the  cost  of  a  single  battle-ship  like  the  Massa 
chusetts  would  endow  all  the  distinctively  college  work 
necessary  for  Negroes  during  the  next  half-century;  and 
it  is  without  doubt  true  that  the  unpaid  balance  from 
bounties  withheld  from  Negroes  in  the  Civil  War  would, 
with  interest,  easily  supply  this  sum. 

But  spread  of  intelligence  alone  will  not  solve  the 
Negro  problem.  If  this  problem  is  largely  a  question  of 
ignorance,  it  is  also  scarcely  less  a  problem  of  poverty. 
If  Negroes  are  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  raising  the 

496 


W.  E.  BURKE ARDT  DUBOIS 

standards  of  living  among  themselves,  the  power  of  intel 
ligent  work  and  leadership  toward  proper  industrial  ideals 
must  be  placed  in  their  hands.  Economic  efficiency  de 
pends  on  intelligence,  skill  and  thrift.  The  public  school 
system  is  designed  to  furnish  the  necessary  intelligence 
for  the  ordinary  worker,  the  secondary  school  for  the 
more  gifted  workers,  and  the  college  for  the  exceptional 
few.  Technical  knowledge  and  manual  dexterity  in  learn 
ing  branches  of  the  world's  work  are  taught  by  industrial 
and  trade  schools,  and  such  schools  are  of  prime  import 
ance  in  the  training  of  colored  children.  Trade-teaching 
can  not  be  effectively  combined  with  the  work  of  the 
common  schools  because  the  primary  curriculum  is  already 
too  crowded,  and  thorough  common-school  training  should 
precede  trade-teaching.  It  is,  however,  quite  possible  to 
combine  some  of  the  work  of  the  secondary  schools  with 
purely  technical  training,  the  necessary  limitations  being 
matters  of  time  and  cost:  e.  g.,  the  question  whether  the 
boy  can  afford  to  stay  in  school  long  enough  to  add  parts 
of  a  high-school  course  to  the  trade  course,  and  particu- 
ularly  the  question  whether  the  school  can  afford  or  ought 
to  afford  to  give  trade  training  to  high-school  students 
who  do  not  intend  to  become  artisans.  A  system  of 
trade-schools,  therefore,  supported  by  State  and  private 
aid,  should  be  added  to  the  secondary  school  system. 

An  industrial  school,  however,  does  not  merely  teach 
technique.  It  is  also  a  school — a  center  of  moral  influence 
and  of  mental  discipline.  As  such  it  has  peculiar  problems 
in  securing  the  proper  teaching  force.  It  demands  broadly 
trained  men :  the  teacher  of  carpentry  must  be  more  than 

497 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

a  carpenter,  and  the  teacher  of  the  domestic  arts  more 
than  a  cook;  for  such  teachers  must  instruct,  not  simply 
in  manual  dexterity,  but  in  mental  quickness  and  moral 
habits.  In  other  words,  they  must  be  teachers  as  well  as 
artisans.  It  thus  happens  that  college-bred  men  and  men 
from  other  higher  schools  have  always  been  in  demand  in 
technical  schools.  If  the  college  graduates  were  to-day 
withdrawn  from  the  teaching  force  of  the  chief  Negro 
industrial  schools,  nearly  every  one  of  them  would  have 
to  close  its  doors.  These  facts  are  forgotten  by  such 
advocates  of  industrial  training  as  oppose  the  higher 
schools.  Strong  as  the  argument  for  industrial  schools  is 
— and  its  strength  is  undeniable — its  cogency  simply  in 
creases  the  urgency  of  the  plea  for  higher  training-schools 
and  colleges  to  furnish  broadly  educated  teachers. 

But  intelligence  and  skill  alone  will  not  solve  the 
Southern  problem  of  poverty.  With  these  must  go  that 
combination  of  homely  habits  and  virtues  which  we  may 
loosely  call  thrift.  Something  of  thrift  may  be  taught  in 
school,  more  must  be  taught  at  home;  but  both  these 
agencies  are  helpless  when  organized  economic  society 
denies  to  workers  the  just  rewards  of  thrift  and  efficiency. 
And  this  has  been  true  of  black  laborers  in  the  South  from 
the  tune  of  slavery  down  through  the  scandal  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bank  to  the  peonage  and  crop-lien  system  of  to-day. 
If  the  Southern  Negro  is  shiftless,  it  is  primarily  because 
over  large  areas  a  shiftless  Negro  can  get  on  in  the  world 
about  as  well  as  an  industrious  black  man.  This  is  not 
universally  true  in  the  South,  but  it  is  true  to  so  large  an 
extent  as  to  discourage  striving  in  precisely  that  class  of 

498 


W.  E.  BURKHARDT  DUBOIS 

Negroes  who  most  need  encouragement.  What  is  the 
remedy?  Intelligence — not  simply  the  ability  to  read 
and  write  or  to  sew — but  the  intelligence  of  a  society  per 
meated  by  that  larger  vision  of  life  and  broader  tolerance 
which  are  fostered  by  the  college  and  university.  Not  that 
all  men  must  be  college-bred,  but  that  some  men,  black 
and  white,  must  be,  to  leaven  the  ideals  of  the  lump. 
Can  any  serious  student  of  the  economic  South  doubt  that 
this  to-day  is  her  crying  need? 

Ignorance  and  poverty  are  the  vastest  of  the  Negro 
problems.  But  to  these  later  years  have  added  a  third — 
the  problem  of  Negro  crime.  That  a  great  problem  of 
social  morality  must  have  become  eventually  the  central 
problem  of  emancipation  is  as  clear  as  day  to  any  student 
of  history.  In  its  grosser  form  as  a  problem  of  serious 
crime  it  is  already  upon  us.  Of  course  it  is  false  and  silly 
to  represent  that  white  women  in  the  South  are  in  daily 
danger  of  black  assaulters.  On  the  contrary,  white 
womanhood  in  the  South  is  absolutely  safe  in  the  hands 
of  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  black  men — ten  times  safer 
than  black  womanhood  is  in  the  hands  of  white  men. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  large  and  dangerous  class  of  Negro 
criminals,  paupers,  and  outcasts.  The  existence  and 
growth  of  such  a  class  far  from  causing  surprise,  should  be 
recognized  as  the  natural  result  of  that  social  disease 
called  the  Negro  problem;  nearly  every  untoward  circum 
stance  known  to  human  experience  has  united  to  increase 
Negro  crime:  the  slavery  of  the  past,  the  sudden  emanci 
pation,  the  narrowing  of  economic  opportunity,  the  law 
less  environment  of  wide  regions,  the  stifling  of  natural 

499 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

ambition,  the  curtailment  of  political  privilege,  the  dis 
regard  of  the  sanctity  of  black  men's  homes,  and,  above 
all,  a  system  of  treatment  for  criminals  calculated  to 
breed  crime  far  faster  than  all  other  available  agencies 
could  repress  it.  Such  a  combination  of  circumstances  is 
as  sure  to  increase  the  numbers  of  the  vicious  and  outcast 
as  the  rain  is  to  wet  the  earth.  The  phenomenon  calls  for 
no  delicately  drawn  theories  of  race  differences;  it  is  a 
plain  case  of  cause  and  effect. 

But  plain  as  the  causes  may  be,  the  results  are  just  as 
deplorable,  and  repeatedly  to-day  the  criticism  is  made 
that  Negroes  do  not  recognize  sufficiently  their  responsi 
bility  in  this  matter.  Such  critics  forget  how  little  power 
to-day  Negroes  have  over  their  own  lower  classes.  Before 
the  black  murderer  who  strikes  his  victim  to-day,  the 
average  black  man  stands  far  more  helpless  than  the  aver 
age  white,  and,  too,  suffers  ten  times  more  from  the  effects 
of  the  deed.  The  white  man  has  political  power,  accumu 
lated  wealth,  and  knowledge  of  social  forces;  the  black 
man  is  practically  disfranchised,  poor,  and  unable  to  dis 
criminate  between  the  criminal  and  the  martyr.  The 
Negro  needs  the  defense  of  the  ballot,  the  conserving 
power  of  property,  and,  above  all,  the  ability  to  cope  in 
telligently  with  such  vast  questions  of  social  regeneration 
and  moral  reform  as  confront  him.  If  social  reform  among 
Negroes  be  without  organization  or  trained  leadership 
from  within,  if  the  administration  of  law  is  always  for  the 
avenging  of  the  white  victim  and  seldom  for  the  reforma 
tion  of  the  black  criminal,  if  ignorant  black  men  misun 
derstand  the  functions  of  government  because  they  have 

500 


W.  E.  BURKHAKDT  DUBOIS 

had  no  decent  instruction,  and  intelligent  black  men  are 
denied  a  voice  in  government  because  they  are  black — 
under  such  circumstances  to  hold  Negroes  responsible  for 
the  suppression  of  crime  among  themselves  is  the  crudest 
of  mockeries. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  sincere  desire  among  the  Ameri 
can  people  to  help  the  Negroes  undertake  their  own  social 
regeneration  means,  first,  that  the  Negro  be  given  the 
ballot  on  the  same  terms  as  other  men,  to  protect  him 
against  injustice  and  to  safeguard  his  interests  in  the 
administration  of  law;  secondly,  that  through  education 
and  social  organization  he  be  trained  to  work,  and  save, 
and  earn  a  decent  living.    But  these  are  not  all:  wealth  is 
not  the  only  thing  worth  accumulating;  experience  and 
knowledge  can  be  accumulated  and  handed  down,  and  no 
people  can  be  truly  rich  without  them.    Can  the  Negro 
do  without  these?    Can  this  training  in  work  and  thrift  be 
truly  effective  without  the  guidance  of  trained  intelligence 
and  deep  knowledge — without  that  same  efficiency  which 
has  enabled  modern  peoples  to  grapple  so  successfully 
with  the  problems  of  the  Submerged  Tenth?    There  must 
surely  be  among  Negro  leaders  the  philanthropic  impulse, 
the  uprightness  of  character  and  strength  of  purpose,  but 
there  must  be  more  than  these;  philanthropy  and  purpose 
among  blacks  as  well  as  among  whites  must  be  guided  and 
curbed  by  knowledge  and  mental  discipline — knowledge 
of  the  forces  of  civilization  that  make  for  survival,  ability 
to  organize  and  guide  those  forces,  and  realization  of  the 
true  meaning  of  those  broader  ideals  of  human  betterment 
which  may  in  time  bring  heaven  and  earth  a  little  nearer. 

501 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

This  is  social  power — it  is  gotten  in  many  ways  by  exper 
ience,  by  social  contact,  by  what  we  loosely  call  the 
chances  of  life.  But  the  systematic  method  of  acquiring 
and  imparting  it  is  by  the  training  of  youth  to  thought, 
power,  and  knowledge  in  the  school  and  college.  And  that 
group  of  people  whose  mental  grasp  is  by  heredity  weakest, 
and  whose  knowledge  of  the  past  is  for  historic  reasons 
most  imperfect,  that  group  is  the  very  one  which  needs 
above  all,  for  the  talented  of  its  youth,  this  severe  and 
careful  course  of  training;  especially  if  they  are  expected 
to  take  immediate  part  in  modern  competitive  life,  if  they 
are  to  hasten  the  slower  courses  of  human  development, 
and  if  the  responsibility  for  this  is  to  be  in  their  own  hands. 
Three  things  American  slavery  gave  the  Negro — the 
habit  of  work,  the  English  language,  and  the  Christian 
religion;  but  one  priceless  thing  it  debauched,  destroyed, 
and  took  from  him,  and  that  was  the  organized  home.  For 
the  sake  of  intelligence  and  thrift,  for  the  sake  of  work  and 
morality,  this  home-life  must  be  restored  and  regenerated 
with  newer  ideals.  How?  The  normal  method  would  be 
by  actual  contact  with  a  higher  home-life  among  his  neigh 
bors,  but  this  method  the  social  separation  of  white  and 
black  precludes.  A  proposed  method  is  by  schools  of 
domestic  arts,  but,  valuable  as  these  are,  they  are  but 
subsidiary  aids  to  the  establishment  of  homes;  for  real 
homes  are  primarily  centers  of  ideals  and  teaching  and 
only  incidentally  centers  of  cooking.  The  restoration  and 
raising  of  home  ideals  must,  then,  come  from  social  life 
among  Negroes  themselves;  and  does  that  social  life  need 
no  leadership?  It  needs  the  best  possible  leadership  of 

502 


W.  E.  BURKHARDT  DUBOIS 

pure  hearts  and  trained  heads,  the  highest  leadership  of 
carefully  trained  men. 

Such  are  the  arguments  for  the  Negro  college,  and  such 
is  the  work  that  Atlanta  University  and  a  few  similar 
institutions  seek  to  do.  We  believe  that  a  rationally  ar 
ranged  college  course  of  study  for  men  and  women  able  to 
pursue  it  is  the  best  and  only  method  of  putting  into  the 
world  Negroes  with  ability  to  use  the  social  forces  of  their 
race  so  as  to  stamp  out  crime,  strengthen  the  home,  elim 
inate  degenerates,  and  inspire  and  encourage  the  higher 
tendencies  of  the  race  not  only  in  thought  and  aspiration 
but  in  every-day  toil.  And  we  believe  this,  not  simply 
because  we  have  argued  that  such  training  ought  to  have 
these  effects,  or  merely  because  we  hope  for  such  results 
in  some  dim  future,  but  because  already  for  years  we  have 
seen  in  the  work  of  our  graduates  precisely  such  results  as 
I  have  mentioned:  successful  teachers  of  teachers,  intel 
ligent  and  upright  ministers,  skilled  physicians,  principals 
of  industrial  schools,  business  men,  and  above  all,  makers 
of  model  homes  and  leaders  of  social  groups,  out  from 
which  radiate  subtle  but  tangible  forces  of  uplift  and 
inspiration.  The  proof  of  this  lies  scattered  in  every  State 
of  the  South,  and,  above  all,  in  the  half-unwilling  testi 
mony  of  men  disposed  to  decry  our  work. 

Between  the  Negro  college  and  industrial  school  there 
are  the  strongest  grounds  for  co-operation  and  unity.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  mere  emphasis,  for  we  would  be  glad  to 
see  ten  industrial  schools  to  every  college.  It  is  not  a  fact 
that  there  are  to-day  too  few  Negro  colleges,  but  rather 
that  there  are  too  many  institutions  attempting  to  do  col- 

503 


MASTERPIECES  OF  NEGRO  ELOQUENCE 

lege  work.  But  the  danger  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  best 
of  the  Negro  colleges  are  poorly  equipped  and  are  to-day 
losing  support  and  countenance,  and  that,  unless  the 
nation  awakens  to  its  duty,  ten  years  will  see  the  annihil 
ation  of  higher  Negro  training  in  the  South.  We  need  a 
few  strong,  well-equipped  Negro  colleges,  and  we  need 
them  now,  not  to-morrow;  unless  we  can  have  them  and 
have  them  decently  supported,  Negro  education  in  the 
South,  both  common-school  and  industrial,  is  doomed  to 
failure,  and  the  forces  of  social  regeneration  will  be  fatally 
weakened,  for  the  college  to-day  among  Negroes  is,  just 
as  truly  as  it  was  yesterday  among  whites,  the  beginning 
and  not  the  end  of  human  training,  the  foundation  and  not 
the  cap-stone  of  popular  education. 

Strange  is  it  not,  my  brothers,  how  often  in  America 
those  great  watchwords  of  human  energy — "Be  strong!" 
"Know  thyself!"  "Hitch  your  wagon  to  a  star!" — how 
often  these  die  away  into  dim  whispers  when  we  face  these 
seething  millions  of  black  men?  And  yet  do  they  not  be 
long  to  them?  Are  they  not  their  heritage  aswell  as  yours? 
Can  they  bear  burdens  without  strength,  know  without 
learning,  and  aspire  without  ideals?  Are  you  afraid  to  let 
them  try?  Fear  rather,  in  this  our  common  fatherland, 
lest  we  live  to  lose  those  great  watchwords  of  Liberty  and 
Opportunity  which  yonder  in  the  eternal  hills  their 
fathers  fought  with  your  fathers  to  preserve. 


504 


INDEX 


Abel,  377 

Abolition, 

Abolitionists,  13, 17, 18,  97, 
98,  99,  100,  101,  144, 
145,  328,  412,  420 

Abraham,  306,  373 

Academy,  French,  95,  294 
Negro,  159 

Achilles,  455 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  116, 
412,413 

Advocate,  Southwestern 
Christian,  455 

Aeneid,  455 

Aeneas,  455 

Africa,  14,  18,  26,  102,  169, 
202,  220,  227,  243,  244, 
245,  246,  249,  257,  258, 
263,  265,375,376,390, 
422,429,431,432,433, 

434,  435,  438,  439,  463, 
478,479,480 
Africa,  Central,  169, 426 
East,  426 
East  Coast  of,  426 
South, 426 
West,  170 

African,  13,  14,  15,  26,  38, 

68,  157,  158,  263,  264, 

373,422,439,445,465, 

468 

Afro -American,    329,    464, 

472 

Alabama,  217,  236,  376 
Alexander  the  Great,  330, 

464 

Alfred  the  Great,  267,  269 
Allah,  38 1 
Alvord,J.W.,384 
Amazon  River,  182 
Amendment,  I3th,  70 
I4th,  70,  76,  79,  468 
i5th,  70, 155,310,469 


Ames,  Alexander,  130 
Ames,  Capt.,  190 
A.  M.  E.  Church,  475 
America,  38,  43,  48,  102, 
212,  239,  257,  268,  270, 
304,  307,  3i3,  320,  330, 
375,378,395,422,453, 
494 

America,  South,  48 
American,  36,  43,  45, 47, 97, 
99,  103,  128,  129,  130, 
134,  138, 144, 166,  216, 
263,266,316,320,334, 
365,368,396,400,401, 

418,422,423,446,447, 
449,461,462,464,468, 
471,  484,  490 

American  University,  382 

Anderson,  Charles  W.,  211 

Andover,  130 

Andrews,  Gov.  John  A., 
196,  415 

Anglo-Saxon,  85,  258,  265, 
266,  267,  268,  269,  270, 
271,272,273,274,  291, 
292,  295,335,368,376, 

w4n,  443,  464,  473 
Antietam,  198 
Appeal,  Memphis,  193 
Appolodorus,  465 
Appomatox,  192,  291,  330, 

484 

Arab,  442 
Arcadia,  178, 198 
Archimedes,  213 
Arctic,  422 
Areopagus,  383 
Arkansas,  357 
Arlington  Heights,  133,  381 
Army,  American,  192,  193, 

339 

5th  Corps,  288 
United  States,  277,  281 

505 


Aristotle,  365 
Arnett,  Bishop,  471 
Arnold,  Benedict,  68 
Aryan,  228 
Asia,  227 

Athaneum  Club,  263 
Athens,  385,398 
Atlanta,  181, 187 
Atlanta  University,  494, 

503 

Atlantic,  348 
Ocean,  466 
Attucks,  Crispus,  125,  127, 

129,  130,  131,  132,415, 

469 

Augusta,  193 
Augustine,  116 
Austrian,  279 
Avalanche,  Memphis,  193 

B 

Baal,  353 
Babylon,  42 
Bacon,  Lord,  241,  464 
Badeau,  General,  192 
Balaam,  354 
Balak,  118 
Balaklava,  291 
Baltimore,  101,  391,  483 
Bancroft,  421 
Bangweolo,  Lake,  430 
Bank,  Freedmens',  251 
Banks,  Gen.,  198 
Banneker  Literary  Club 

125 

Bannockburn,  Battle  of,  27 
Banquo,  294 
Baptist,  475, 481 
Baraato,  Barney,  260,  261 
Bass,  Harry  W.,  472 
Baylor's  Field,  192 
Bayou,  M.,  IQ,  20 
Beard,  Gen.  O.T.,  197 


INDEX 


Beatitudes,  Mount  of,  109 
Bechuana,  235 
Beck,  Mr.,  68 
Belgium,  470 
Berea  College,  334 
Berk  shires,  414 
Bethlehem,  204 
Bible,  44,  364,  365,  400, 

402,  435 
Black  Battalion,  338,  341, 

342,  346 
Bliss,  Judge,  6 1 
Blue  Bells,  304 
Blumenback,  294 
Blyden,  Edward  Wilmot, 

263 

Boker,  119 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,    23, 

25,  26,  29, 330,  423 
Bordentpwn,  Manual 

Training  and  Indus 
trial  School,  39 7 
Boston,  127,  130,  131,  177, 

191,  296,305,412,415, 

469 

Boston  Common,  191 
Boston  Council,  125 
Boston  Gazette,  131 
Boston  Suffrage  League,3O5 
Boston  Massacre,  125 
British,    20,   22,   125,   127, 

129,131,463 
Brougham,  Lord,  359 
Boughton,  Prof.  J.,  227 
Bowen,J.W.E.,47i 
Boyer,  16 

Brown,  John,  307, 346 
Browning,  Robert,  399 
Brownsville,  Pa.,  461 
Brownsville,  Texas,  338,345 
Bruce,  Robert,  27 
Bruce,B.  K.,471 
Brutus,  436 
Bryant.  118 
Buchanan,  James,  147 
Bull  Run,  198 
Bunker  Hill,  128,  130,  189, 

291,  297,  298,  412,  415 
Burke,  Edmund,  118, 344 
Burlingame,  Anson,  128 
Burraah,  202 
Burns,  Robert,  338 


Burton,  168 

Butler,  Gen.  B.  F.,  187, 193 

Byron,  438 

C 
Caesar,  141,  178,  306,  330, 

402,473 
Caillioux,  Capt,i99 

Cain,  377 

Calais,  171 

Caldwell,  James,  127 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  97,  293 

California,  45 

Calvary,  321 

Cambridge  University,  149, 

388 

Camden,  68 
Campbell,  Thomas,  118 
Canaan,  3 74, 402 
Capital,  381 
Carey,  Henry  C.,  255 
Carlyle,  429, 443 
Carnegie  Peace  Building, 

38i 
Carney,  Sergeant,  200,  214, 

210 

Carolinas,  488 
Carolina,  North,  131,  233, 

234, 235 

Carolina,  South,  67,  68,  78 
Carolina,  South  Regulars, 

197 

Carter,  W.  Justin,  265 
Catholic,  381 
Catholic  University,  382 
Cavalier,  270, 463 
Cavalry,  United  States, 
gth,  296 
loth,  288 
25th,  470 

Census  Federal,  468 
Centurion,  398 
Cephalus,6s 
Chambezi  River,  430 
Chancellorsville,  383 
Channing,  Dr.,  117, 167 
Chapin  Farm,  187 
Charleston,  190, 326 
Chatham,  118 
Chattanooga,  92 
Chicago,  277,391 
Chinese,  202, 452 
Chinese  Government,  63 

506 


Christian,  121,  373, 440 
Christianity,  441,  476,  477, 

478 

Christian  Church,  118 
Christophe,  28 
Chobungo,  434 
Church  Extension  Society, 

475 

Cicero,  65, 118,398 
Cincinnati,  98 
Civil  Liberty,  70 
Civil  Rights,  70,  71,  77,  89 
Civil  Rights  Bill,  67, 89 
Civil  War,  193,  281,  348, 

349,  383,  468, 469,  470, 

496 

Clark,  William,  388 
Clarkson,  118,331 
Clay,  Henry,  3  24 
Clover  Hill,  Va.,  184,  198, 

202 

Coburn,  Tites,  130 
Coleridge,  168 
Coleridge,  Samuel  T.,  432 
Colored  Orphan  Asylum, 

I9,3i 
Colored  Soldiers,  140,  141, 

209 

Colored  Troops,  U.  S., 
4th,  192 
8th,  200 
i3th,  191 
32d,  200 
35th,  200 

I02d,  200 

Columbus,  59 
Committee  of  Safety 

(Tenn.),i93 
Concord,  41 2 
Confederacy,  153,  191,  231, 

350 

Confederate  Army,  281 
Confederate  Congress,  194, 

197 

Confederate  States,  142 
Congregational,  476,    81 
Congress,  6 7,  69,  70,  73,  75, 

80,  83,  84,  85,  98,  155, 

190,  197,  233,  234,  241, 

327,461 
38th, 117, 120 
56th,  233 


INDEX 


Congo,  102 

Connecticut,  187, 195 

Constantine,  116 

Constantinople,  381 

Constitution,  44,  51,  56,  70, 
75,  76,  77,  78,  85,  86, 
98,  122,  123,  138,  215, 
222,  235,  236,  237,  280, 
308,324,326,329,335, 

343,389,392,413,417, 
468, 486 

Convention,  Sunday  School, 
291 

Cook,  George  William,  379 

Cooper  Institute,  389 

Coppin,  Fanny  Jackson, 25 1 

Coppin,LeviJ.,243 

Corbin,  Gen.,  283 

Cornhill,  125, 126, 131 

Corn  wall  is,  469 

Cortez,  433 

Cotton  States  and  Inter 
national  Exposition, 
181,187 

Court  of  St.  James,  263 

Court,  Dist.  of  U.  S.,  49 

Court,  Supreme,  71,  73,  75, 
77,  78,  85,  308 

Covington,  98 

Cowper,  118 

Crisis,  The,  491 

Croesus,  366 

Cromwell,  306 

Cross,  Samuel  Creed,  389 

Croton  River,  189 

Crummell,  Alexander,  159 

Cuba,  288,395 

Curran,  118 

Cummings,  Harry,  472 

Curtis,  James  L.,  321 

Cuyahoga  County,  49 

Cyrus,  115 

D 

Dancy,  John  C.,  475 

Dane,  213 

Darien,  433 

Darwin,  104 

Davidson,  Arthur  E.,  95 

Davis,  9  7 

Davis,  Jefferson,  297 

Davis,  John,  192 

Davis,  D.  Webster,  291 


Dawes,  78 

Dauphin,  Fort,  27 

Da  Vinci,  402 

Dayton,  O.,  219 

Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  41,  52,  97,  98, 
151,  220,308,315,320, 

349,  383,  4n,  4i9 
Delaware,  195 
Democratic,  90,  93,  94,  101 
Demosthenes,  224,  365 
Desdemona,  294 
Dessalines,  28, 30 
Disfranchisement,  389 
District  of  Columbia,  41, 

135,142,327,382,384, 

4i3 

Donaldson  Fort,  330 
Dock  Square,  125 
Donop,  Count,  130,  190 
Double  Dragon,  63 
Douglass,  Frederick,  41, 

133,318,471 
Douglass  Hospital,  227 
Douglass,  Stephen  A.,  418 
Dover,  Del., 

State  College,  403 
Draconian,  339, 340 
Drummond,  236,  237 
DuBois,  W.  E.  B.,  471,  491 
Dumas,  Alexander,  fils,  95 
Dunbar,  Alice  M.,  425 
Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence 

421,  471 

Dundore,  Earl,  188 
Durham,  N.  C.,  357 
Dutch,  366 


East  Bridgewater,  130 
Edward  the  Confessor,  269 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  117 
Edinburgh,  361 
Egypt,  209,  227,  330,  377, 

452 
Egyptians,  103,  123,  372, 

381,465 
El  Caney,  222 
Elijah,  307,  353 
Elliott,  Robert  Brown,  67, 


,  Queen,  423 
507 


Emancipation,  18,  40,  97, 
120,  140,  142,  148,  153, 
155,  299,307,312,329, 


416,419,420,421,424, 
461,465,471,475,484 
Emancipation  Day,  (64 
Emancipation  Proclama 
tion,  140,  142,  153,  285, 


412,434,461,465,466, 

471,484 
Emancipator,  The  Great, 

322,  331,  424,  433 
Emerson,  278 
England,  55,  271,  281,  359, 

413,426,439 
English,  23,  362,  413,  434 
Englishman,  204,  238 
Ephraim,  482 
Episcopal,  Protestant,  400 
Episcopalian,  476,  481 
Epworth  League,  403,  406 
Eratotosthenes,  465 
Erie,  Lake,  222 
Essex,  414 
Ethiopian,  261 
Estabrook,  Prince,  129 
Eureka,  Literary  Society, 

265 
Europe,  23,  26,  38,  98,  102, 

128,  149,  212,  227,433, 

452 
Everett,  Edward,  403 

Faneuil  Hall,  98,  305,  318 
Federal  Government,  466 
Federal  Union,  463 
Ferguson,  Robert,  361 
Feudal  System,  163 
Fifteenth  Street  Presby 

terian  Church,  347 
Fitzgerald,  473 
Fleetwood,C.A.,  187 
Florence,  306 
Florida,  30,  197,  389 
Fontainebleau,  423 
France,  13,  21,  27,  171,  228. 

263,  293 

Francois,  Jean,  20,  21 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  116, 

188,464 


INDEX 


Freedman, 

Aid  Society,  149 

Bank,  498 

Monument,  133 

Schools  for,  384 
Freeman,  Jordan,  68, 189 
Fremont,  Gen.,  140 
French,  15,  19,  20,  29,  30, 

263 

Frenchman,  204,  228 
Foraker,  Joseph  Benson, 

337,338,342,343 
Force  Bill,  178 
Frye,  Col.,  190 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  49,  58, 

59, 60,  327 
G 

Gaines,  W.  J.,  257 
Ganges  River,  275 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd, 

97,  98,  198,  208,  228, 

307,308,310,311,314, 

318,319,346,349,412, 

413,415,416 
Garden  of  Eden,  432 
Gates,  Gen.,  1 88 
General  Assembly,  24 
George  III,  132,469 
Georgetown  College,  382 
Georgia,  69,  71,  72,  73,  74, 

75,81,82,83,173,  175, 

176,  193,  197,  257,  389 
Gerry,  412 
German,  204 
Germany,  220 
Gettysburg,  198,  330,  383 
Giddings,  116 
Gideon,  279 
Gilead,  Forest  of,  307 
Gilmore,  Toby,  130 
Gliddon,  168 
Gold  Coast,  244 
Golden  Rule,  335,  349 
Gonaves,  28 
Grady.  Henry  A.,  174 
Grant,  U.S.,  149 
Gray,  Samuel,  127 
Gray's  Ferry,  192 
Great  Britain,  18,  102,  187, 

268, 469 
Great  Cornerstone  Speech, 

350 


Greece,  228,  271,  365,  372, 

455 
Greek,  291,  293,  372,  380, 

426 

Greek  Grammar,  219,  293 
Greek  Slave,  41 7 
Greeley,  Horace,  328 
Greene,  Col.,  189 
Greene,  Gen.,  68 
Greener,  Richard  T.,  63 
Gregoire,  Abbe,  293 
Gregory,  James  Francis,397 
Grimke,  Archibald,  337 
Grimke,  Francis  J.,  347 
Griswold,  Fort,  189 
Guards,  Louisiana  Native, 

198 

Guards,  National,  281 
Guinea,  102 
Guasimas,  Las,  222 

H 

Hague,  The,  381 
Hahn,  Gov.,  333 
Hall,  Philadelphia,  58 
Halpine,  Col,  195 
Haman,  115 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  68, 

7,o,7i 
Hamilton's  History  of  the 

American  People,  70 
Hamites,  227 
Hampden,  464 
Hampton  Institute,  367 
Hancock,  John,  412, 464 
Hardin  County ,  323 
Harlan,  Justice,  334 
Harper,  Frances  Ellen  Wat  - 

kins,  101 

Harper's  Ferry,  307 
Harris,  82 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  188 
Harrison,  Fort,  192 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  265 
Harold,  251 

Hart,  William  H.  H.,  488 
Harvard,  63, 125 
Hawkins,  W.  Ashbie,  483 
Hayti,  13,14, 15,  25,  29,31, 

32, 141, 170 

Haytians,  16,17,19,29,30,41 
Hebrew,  381, 397 

508 


Henry,  16 

Henry  VII,  Chapel  of,  423 

Henry,  Patrick,  117 

Herodotus,  432 

Hesperides,  26 

Hessians,  130, 189 

Hilton,  Sergeant,  193 

Hodges,  144 

Holland,  293,470 

Holy  Grafl,  471 

Honey  Hill,  S.  C.,  200 

Hood,  Solomon  P.,  471 

House  of  Representatives, 
81,  133,  233 

Howard's  American  Maga 
zine,  227 

Howard  University,  63,379, 

380,382,383,384,385, 
386,  387,  388,  483,  488 

Howe,  Cato,  130 

Hudson,  Port,  198,  222,327, 
469 

Hunt,  168 

Hunter,  Gen.  David,  194, 

195 
Huxley,  154 

Ignatius,  116 

Iliad,  455 

Illinois,  307,  326,  334, 473 

Independence  Hall,  97 

Independent,  New  York, 

T  ,r334 
India,  452 

Indian,  275, 375,  395 

Indianapolis,  151 

Infantry, 

25th, 289,337 
48th  New  York,  197 

Institute  for  Colored 
Youth,  251 

Institutional  Church,  389 

Irish,  204 

Israel,  1 18,  279,374,417 

Italia,  Fair,  204 

Italian,  204,  228 

Italy,  293 

Jacksonville,  389 

Jackson,  Gen.,  68,  69,  192, 

193,473 
Jacob, 365 


INDEX 


James,  William,  280 

Jamestown,  129,  463, 465 

Japan,  452, 462 

Japanese,  462 

Japhetic,  263 

Jason,  William  C.,  403 

Jay, 116 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  116, 139, 

220 

Jeffreys,  193 
Jennings,  Anderson,  49 
Jeremiah,  118 
Jerusalem,  43 
Jews,  260,  263,  291,  301, 

372,383 
Jewish,  263,  335 
Jim  Crow,  239,  351, 462,488 

"ohn  the  Baptist,  307 

"ohn,  King,  411 

bhnson,  Harvey,  471 

bhnson,  John,  192 

ones,  Robert  E.,  455 

ordan,  68 

bseph,  280 

udah,  482 

K 

Kaffir,  245 

Kamolondo,  430, 434 
Keats,  433 

Kentucky,  49,  69,  71,  72,73, 
74,  75,  78,  79,  83,  92, 
307,325,334,335,448 
Killarney,  204 
Kipling,  402 
Kitchin,  233,  234,  235 
Kubla  Khan,  432 
Ku  Klux  Klan,  350 

L 

Lacaedemonians,  299 
Lacroix,  Gen.,  23 
La  Caste,  192 
Lafayette,  58, 117 
Lanarkshire,  425 
Lancaster,  130 
Langston,  Charles  H.,  49,61 
Langston,  John  Mercer,  97, 

471 

Langton,  27 
Launfal,  Sir,  202 
Latin,  335, 426 
Laveaux, 21 


Leavenworth,  Fort,  283 

Leclerc,  Gen.,  27,  28,  29 

Lee,  Gen.  Robt.  E.,  191 
194, 484 

Leipsic,  388 

Leo,  X,  Pope,  117 

Leonidas,  27 

Lepelole,  428 

Leroy,  lola,  101 

Lethe,  221 

Lewis,  Job,  130 

Lewis,  William  H.,  409 

Lexington,  129,412 

Liberator,  The,  308 

Liberia,  33, 38, 39,  63,  263 

Liberian  College,  159 

Library  of  Congress,  381 

Lieber,  70 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  99,  117, 
119,  120, 121, 122,  123, 
124,  125, 128, 129,  130, 
131, 132,  137,138, 139, 
140,  141, 142, 143, 144, 
145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 
150,153,154,221,278, 
295,303,305,307,308, 
318,321,323,324,326, 
327,328,329,330,331, 
332,333,334,335,336, 
346,347,401,409,410, 
411,413,418,421,424, 
434,464,469,471,484, 

Lincoln,  Lake,  434 

Lincoln,  Park,  133 

Lincoln  University,  425 

Livingstone,  David,  425, 
426,427,428,429,431, 
433,435,437,439,440, 
441,442,443,479 

Livinestone,  Mrs.,  436 

Locke,  63 

Lomami,  434 

London,  Jack,  439 

London  Missionary  Soci 
ety,  426 

Longfellow,  118,  413,  438 

Lookout  Mountain,  330, 

383 

Lord,  Miss,  385 
Louisiana,    103,    151     155, 

192,  217,331 
Louisville,  92 

509 


L'Ouverture,  Toussaint,  19, 
21,22,23,  24,25,26,27 
28,  29,30,32,330,464 

Louvre,  402 

Lovejoy,  116, 318 

Low,  Barzilai,  130 

Lowe,  54 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  230, 

4n,4i3 

Lualaba  River,  430,  434 
Luapula  River,  430 
Lumpkins  Jail,  295 
Luther,  306 
Lynch,  John  R.,  89 
Lynch,  Thomas,  188 
Lyon,  Ernest,  461 

M 
Mabie,  Hamilton  Wright, 

425 
Magna  Charta,  269,  271, 

411 

Mead,  Edwin  D.,  334,  335 
Maine,  157 
Maitland,  Gen.,  22 
Marathon,  98 
Marinet,  24 
Marsellaise,  204 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  423 
Maryland,  195,  334,  488 
Mason,  97,471 
Mason  and  Dixon's  Line, 

97,391,393 
Massachusetts,  78,  79,  125, 

J32»  *95»  205,  206,  208, 

409,412,413,414,415, 

416,424 
Massachusetts   Committee 

of  Safety,  188, 189 
Massachusetts, 

54th  Regiment  of,  190, 

196,  197,  198,  206,  207, 

208 

55th  Regiment  of,  200 
Massachusetts  House  of 

Representatives,  409 
MasseyHall,  291 
Matrick,  Quack,  130 
Maximus,  116 
McClellan,469 
Mecca,  275,362 
Medal  of  Honor,  187 
Memphis,  194 


INDEX 


Mercury,  Charlestown,  193 
Mesurado,  36 
Methodist,  4  7  5, 48 1 
Methodism,  382 
Metropolitan  A.  M.  E. 

Church,  337 
Methusaleh,  63 
Mexican  War,  281 
Michelet,  168, 169 
Millikin's  Bend,  198,  199, 

212,296,469 
Milton,  1 18, 444, 449 
Mississippi,  91, 376 

River,  147 
Missouri,  195 

Department  of,  288 
Mobile,  191, 192 
Moero,  430, 439 
Miller,  Kelly,  445 
Mohammed,  381 
Mohammedan,  263 
Moliere,  Abbe,  24 
Moore,  Gov.,  194 
Monographic  Magazine, 

445 

Monroe,  Fort,  283 
Monrovia,  33,  63 
Montauk  Point,  288 
Montgomery,  471 
Montgomery,  Major,  189 
Moravians,  244 
Morris,  118 
Moses,  117,  118,  306,  331, 

380,465 

Mossell,  N.  R,  227 
Moton,  R.  R.,  367 

N 

Nashville,  190,  193,  211 
National  Association  of 
Negro  Women,  173 
National  Religious  Train 
ing  School,  357 
Navy,  American,  191 
Nemesis,  273,  276 
Newburyport,  307 
New  England,  15, 420 
New  England  Anti-Slavery 

Society,  412 
New  Hampshire,  187 
New  Jerusalem,  473 
New  Market  Heights,  192 


New  York,   19,   187,   192, 

195,391,393,488 
Ngami,  Lake,  426 
Niagara,  213 
New  Orleans,  68,  97,  177, 

194,326,455 
Battle  of,  296 
Newport,  189 
Nile,  227,  275,426,432 
Norman,  213,  258,  272,  417 
Northern,  Gov.,  173 
North  Pole,  443 
Nyassa,  426 

O 

Oberlin,  51,52,  241 
Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  *59 
Odd  Fellows,  G.  U.  O.,  177 
Odysseus,  455 
Odyssey,  455 
Ohio,  49,  53,54, 195,473 
Olustee,  198,  200,327 
Omar,  Mosque  of,  381 
O'Reilly,  John  Boyle,  354 
O'Reilly,  Miles,  195 
Orpheus,  301 
Osceola,  30 
Othello,  64,  294 
Oxford,  159, 388 


Pacific  Ocean,  45,  348,  433 
Paine,  412 
Paleolithic,  227 
Pan-American  Building,38i 
Pariah,  153 
Paris,  402 
Park,  Mungo,  169 
Parker,  Theodore,  413 
Parliament,  270, 344 
Parnassus,  179 
Pascal,  M.,  24 
Pauline,  383 
Payne,  47 1 
Peary,  443 
Penbrooke,  Pa.,  265 
Pennsylvania,  192,  195, 425 
Pentecostal,  476 
Perry,  191,  222 
Persians,  372 
Peter,  301,302 
Petersburg,  Va.,  192,  222, 
330 

510 


Pharaoh,  39,  279,  464 
Pharos,  34 

Philadelphia,    13,    391 
Philip,  224 
Philippines,    395 
Phillips,  Wendell,  97,  98, 

208,318,330,346,413, 

4i4,  463 
Phoenicia,  464 
Phoenix,  241 
Pleiades,  403 

Picayune,  New  Orleans,  194 
Pickens,  Prof.,  3 28 
Pilgrims,  463 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  220 
Pillow,  Fort,  198,  200,  469 
Pinchback,  P.  B.  S.,  151 
Pitcairn,  Major,  130,  189 
Pittsburg,  Landing,  469 
Plancianos,  198 
Plato,  115 
Plymouth,  130 
Plymouth  Rock,  129,  220, 

385, 463 
Polycarp,  116 
Poor,  Salem,  190 
Port  au  Paix,  21 
Port  au  Prince,  170 
Portugal,  293, 433 
Potomac,  382 
Potomac,  Army  of  the,  140, 

191 

Potomac,  Valley  of  the,  383 
Potter's  Field,  423 
Praetorian  Guard,  178 
Presbyterian,  476, 481 
Prescott,  Maj.  Gen.,  189 
Preston,  Capt.,  126,  237 
Price,  John,  49 
Price,  471 
Proverbs,  362 
Providence,  New,  131 
Ptolemy,  432 
Pyramids,  465 
Puritan,  129,  270,412 

Q 

Quaker,  381 
Quebec,  291 
Quixotic,  435 

R 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  241 
Ransom,  R.  C.,  205 


INDEX 


Raynal,  21 

Raynham,  130 

Rebellion,  War  of  the,  212, 

463,  469 

Reconstruction,  87 
Recorder,  Christian,  251 
Red  Bank,  130 
Red  Shirt  Brigade,  350 
Reformation,  270 
Renan,  M.,  263 
Representatives,  House  of, 

344 
Republic,  151,  287,  290,314, 

352,  388,  401,  418,  419 

469 

Revells,  471 
Review,  A.  M.  E.  Church, 

205 
Revolution,   58,   131,   222, 

280, 468 
Revolution,  American,  58, 

128,  129,  412,  463 
Revolution,  French,  307 
Revolutionary  Veteran,  130 
Revolutionary  War,  187, 

191 
Rhode  Island,  130,  189, 

Battalion,  187 
Richmond,   187,   291,   295, 

350,  469 

Rigaud,  Gen.,  22 
Riley,  Fort,  283,  288 
Robespierre,  30 
Rochambeau,  Gen.,  27,  29, 

30 

Rochester,  41 
Roderick  Dhu,  65 
Roman,  330, 41 7, 438 
Roman    Catholic    Church, 

290, 400 

Roman  Empire,  213 
Romans,  291,  293,  371,  372, 

380 
Rome,  39,   141,   228,   263, 

271,  37i,  372,  381,417 
Roosevelt,  343, 470 
Rough  Riders,  222,  296, 470 
Royal  Geographical  Society, 

263,432 

RuffinJ.St.  P.,  173 
Rumn,  George  £,.,125 
Runnymede,4ii 


Rush,  Benjamin,  99 
Ruskin,  278 

Russian- Japanese  War,  63 
Ruth,  87 

S 

Sackett's  Harbor,  192 
Salem  Gazette,  129 
Salem,  Peter,  130,  189,  415 
Samana,  27 
San  Juan,  223,470 
San  Juan  Hill,  296,  297 
Santo  Domingo,  16,  19,  22, 

25,27,28,30,41 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  365 
Saunders,  Prince,  13 
Savary,  192 
Savonarola,  306 
Saxon,  213 
Scarborough,  W.  S.,  219, 

293 

Scotch,  442 
Scotchman,  234 
Scotland,  425 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  364,  443 
Scottish,  361 
Scriptures,  87 
Senate,  136,  340,  343,  344 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  291, 

349 

Servn,  417 

Shakespeare,  464 

Shaler,  Capt.,  191 

Sharpe,  118 

Shaw,  Robert  Gould,  190, 
205,  209 

Shepard,  J.  E.,  357 

Sheridan,  103 

Sherman,  149 

Shiloh,  198 

Shirwa,  Lake,  426 

Shupanga,  439 

Sierra  Leone,  170 

Sinbad,  294 

Sirens,  300 

Sistine  Chapel,  381 

Slavery, 

Slave  Trade,  13,  15,  20,  24, 
26,  28,  30,  32,  43,  44, 
45,  46,  47,  56,  58,  59, 
72,  82,  86,  101,  102, 

103,  109,  IIO,  III,  112, 
113,  114,  IIS,  "9,  122, 

511 


131,  138, 142, 144, 149 
151,  153,  161,  191,  194, 

212,  228,  230,  237,  240, 

253, 258,308,310,312, 
321,327,328,410,412, 
433,442,445,446,466, 
502 

Slaughter-House  Cases,  71, 

73,  77,  83 

Smith,  James  McCune,  19 
Smith,  Harry,  47  2 
Smith,  Gen.  W.  F.,  192 
Socrates,  66, 115 
Soldier's  Home,  382 
Solomon,  362 
Solon,  366 
Somerset,  413 
Spain,  21,  228,  293,  366 
Spaniard,  20,  21,  228 
Spanish,  24, 470 
Spanish -American  War,  470 
Spartan,  437 
Spartanburg,  N.  C,  456 
Spaulding,  Martha,  388 
Sphinx,  275 
Springfield,  334 
St.  Helena  Island,  197 
St.  Louis,  59, 391 
St.  Luke,  149 

St.  Paul,  278,  306,  385,  401 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  381 
St.  Peter's  Cathedral.  381 
St.  Sophia,  381 
St.  Thomas,  263 
Stafford,  198 

Star  Spangled  Banner,  94 
Stanley,  426,  429,  430,  437, 

438 

States  Rights,  72 
Stearns,  George  L.,  196 
Stephens,  69,  80,  350 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  429 
Steward,  T.  G.,  277 
Stoughton  Corner,  130 
Stuy  vesant  Institute,  19 
Sullivan,  362 
Sultan,  263 
Sumner,  Charles,  208,  220, 

318,346 

Sumter,  Fort,  83,  193 
Supreme  Court,  136 


INDEX 


Talladega  College,  328 
Talmage,  Dr.,  304 
Taj-Mahal,  381 
Tanner,  H.  O.,  421 
Teague,  Hilary,  33 
Tennessee,  92, 195,  217, 448 
Tennessee  Centennial  Ex 
position,  193, 211 
Tennyson,  218,438 
Terence,  no 
Teutons,  291 
Texas,  75 

Texas,  Annexation  of,  117 
Thermopolae,  27,  291 
Thomas,  Gen.  Lorenzo,  195 
Thompson,  118 
Toronto,  Canada,  291 
Totten,  Fort,  283 
Trafalgar,  291 
Trollope,  168 
Turkey,  293,452 
Turner,  Bishop,  471 
Turner,  Prof.  J.  W.,  488 
Tuskegee,  367,  455,  45» 

U 

Ulysses,  300 
Underwood,  236,  237 
Union  Army,  191 
United  States,  14, 15,  48,56, 

57,  73,  76,  77,  85,  137, 

462,  470,  496 

V 

Valhalla,  423 


Vance,  J.M.,  177   . 

Varner,  187 

Versailles,  423 

Vicksburg,  103 

Victoria  Falls,  426,  432 

Villate,  21 

Virginia,  44,  82,  294,  367, 

381 

Virginia,  West,  389 
Vladivostok,  63 
VonMoltke,  279 

W 

Wacht  am  Rhein,  204 
Wagner,  Fort,  198,  199,  209, 

469 

Waldron,  J.  M.,  389 
War  College,  283 
War  Department,  195 
War  of  1812, 191 
Warren,  415 
Washington,  Booker  T., 

181,195,421,471 
Washington,  D.  C.,  98, 133, 

135, 141,  283,337,347, 

381,  389,  391,  466,  483 
Washington,  George,  68,70, 

116,  118,  189,464 
Washingtonian,  382 
Water  Lily,  The,  3 78 
Waterloo,  99,  291 
Watts,  419 

Wearin'  o'  the  Green,  204 
Webster,  127,365 
Wellington,  53,  57,  58, 60 


West  Indies,  158, 417 
Westminster  Abbey,  423, 

426, 439 

Westminster  Assembly,  397 
West  Point,  281,  282,  283 
White  Caps,  350 
White  League,  103 
White,  George  H.,  233 
Whittier,  118,413 
Wilmington,  Del.,  403 
Wilberforce  University, 

118, 219 

William  III,  267,  269 
Williams,  E.  F.,  384 
Williams,  H.  Price,  253 
Willson,  Hiram,  49,  61 
Wilson's  Landing,  296 
Winchell,  Dr.,  227 
Wittenberg,  306 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  363 
Wordsworth,  171,  438,  444 

Y 

Yale  University,  388,  399 
Yorktown,  98, 189,  291 
Yulee,  97 
Y.M.C.A.,36i,478,479 


Zambezi  River,  426 
Zangwill,  Israel,  263 
Zanzibar,  438 
Zion,42,43,204 
Zulu,  245 


512 


A/4-A/4 


